A Mile in Your Shoes
by Pisceskat
Summary: AU Parent Swap. Our history shapes us. Would you be the same if you lived someone else's history? Adrien Dupain Cheng is a happy-go-lucky son of bakers. Marinette Agreste is the artistic but sheltered daughter of Gabriel Agreste. Antics Ensue. No longer a one-shot!
1. Chapter 1

_One year ago._

Laughter filtered melodically through the open windows of the second story, carried by butter and vanilla-scented air into the streets bordering the edges of 12 Rue Gotlib. The "closed" sign on the bakery door teased passersby catching the perfume of baked goods, obviously made with love. It was no secret that Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng operated the best bakery in Paris with copious amounts of that not-so-secret ingredient. Tonight, however, it was time for a personal celebration.

The large man put the finishing touches on the small cake, decorating it with a chocolate ribbon across the top and then gave his wife a kiss on the cheek, leaving her to ice on the words. Across the counter from them, their excited thirteen-year-old danced in his seat while sharing an exuberant smile with his best friend, Nino, who extended a fist bump.

"Blackbelt, dude! Kim won't know what hit him," the red-capped teen congratulated.

"Nino," the small Chinese woman chastised, "We don't encourage violence in this house." Her words were undermined by the huge smile on her face and the big kiss on her son's cheek.

"Thanks, mom," he answered, wrapping her in a hug rivaled only by his father's.

Tom centered the finished congratulatory cake on the counter and put his arm over his wife's shoulders, beaming at the two boys. "I'd listen to Mrs. Cheng, Nino. My boy got more than just his looks from his mom, you know."

"What can I say?" the freshly minted black belt preened, his smile only widening. "Talent like mine is inherently amazing. You could say I wear my mom-genes with pride."

Tom let out a full belly laugh, while Sabine smirked and shook her head. Nino groaned and covered his eyes. "Dude, no…"

"What? That one was a good one. Didn't even have to stretch for it."

Nino dropped his hand and smirked at his life-long buddy. "Congrats, you dork."

Sabine handed a small present wrapped in black paper with a gold ribbon to her son. "Your father and I got you a little something."

The ocean blue eyes widened in surprise and shined in delight as he opened the present and then excitedly showed his friend. "Ultimate Mecha Strike III!" He threw his arms around both of his parents and wrapped them in a huge hug.

"We are so proud of you, Adrien," Tom beamed. "What say we finish off some of this cake and then fire up the game system?"

Nothing could get Adrien down today, and he was pretty sure his smile was going to be a permanent fixture on his face. "Best. Day. Ever," he beamed.

* * *

Across town, a much different scene was being painted.

Alone in her room, a blond girl sketched in a note pad emblazoned with the Agreste logo with the finest of charcoal art pencils. Copic markers of every color surrounded her as she worked on her latest masterpiece: a dress for her mother. She was due home any day now, and Marinette missed her dearly. She understood why her mother left: the resort that she went to was renowned for its restorative powers, and her mother had suffered from a cough and dizzy spells for the longest time now. Her only wish was that she could have gone with her. According to her father, she would have been a hindrance to her mother's healing, however.

Marinette wanted to argue, but the look on her father's face clearly stated that he was going to miss her while she was gone as well. Instead of arguing, she wrapped her arms around her father's waist and hugged him. After a moment, he returned the hug and then sent her off to her lessons with Nathalie.

That was a month ago. The house seemed colder without her mother. Her father was colder without her mother, it was like his light was dimmed by her distance. She wanted mom to hurry home and bring dad back with her.

She blended shades of turquoise, fading it into a jade to create a shimmer effect in the skirt design, making a note of the fabrics intended in the margins. A small smile graced her lips. Father would love this one, she knew it. She used her detail markers to trace in the beading she planned on sewing into the fabrics but never finished.

Nathalie knocked on the door before letting herself in and cleared her throat. Marinette looked up from her drawing pad in surprise, and then worry as she caught the look on the assistant's usually stoic face.

"Marinette, your Father would like to see you." The now was implied.

Closing the notebook, she tucked it under her arm and stood, shaking the folds of her skirt and hoping it wasn't too wrinkled. She took a few steps towards the door when she was again stopped.

"You… may want to leave your sketchbook here," Nathalie suggested.

The young designer frowned. Her father was always willing to see her designs. A pit of dread pooled in her stomach. "O-okay," she answered, returning the tablet to its usual home on her desk, and then followed her father's assistant to his office.

Their steps echoed in her ears until their silent march finally ended within the cavernous office. Despite the brightness of the lights and the sunshine filtering in through the tall windows, the pallor of her father's face and set of his jaw as he stared at the mosaic portrayal of her mother informed her that today would be a dark day for the house of Agreste.

"Father?" she stepped forward, though he did face her directly.

"Marinette," he addressed her, tearing his eyes from the painting to stare into the matching green eyes of his daughter. "There's been… an accident."

Her eyes blew wide and her breath caught in her throat. "Wha… what happened?" she managed to ask. "Father?"

He looked back at the portrait. "Exactly what has happened is not important. Your mother is missing."

"No…" she whispered, a hand going to her trembling lips. "When? Where was she last? How do we know…?" She asked in rapid-fire, taking quick steps towards her father.

"Marinette." The tone of his voice was a warning, and she heeded it, stopping both her questions and her approach instantly. "That is enough. If I learn more, I will inform you. Until then, you will continue your lessons with Nathalie, as well as your other studies."

She silently stared at his back for a moment before letting out a dejected breath. "Yes, Father," she answered. Before she left, however, she did something she hadn't done in a while. She walked up to her father and wrapped her arms around his waist, snuggling her face into his back. The slight tremble of his chest and the quickness of his heartbeat was the only evidence that he was not, in fact, stone. He was just as upset as she, only he lacked the ability to show it.

She tightened her arms around him, and whispered a quiet, "I love you, father," before releasing him and retreating back to her own room.

Closing the door gently with a barely spoken goodbye to Nathalie, Marinette made her way to her bed. She climbed amidst the pillows and found her favorite stuffed animal, a large pink and black striped cat. She hugged it to herself before burying her face into its faux fur. Once the first heavy sob was released, the rest followed unrelentingly until restless sleep overtook her.

This was and would remain the worst day of her life, and nothing would ever be the same.

* * *

_Present Day_

"Adrien, honey? You are going to be late for school!" Sabine called up to her son, who groaned and rolled over, pulling his blanket over his head. From the darkness, he pressed a button on his phone and squinted at the time with a yawn. It was a shame summer was over, but at least the first day of school meant one good thing: getting to see all his friends again. He still saw Nino almost every day, but he didn't really get to see much of anyone else unless they came into the bakery. Besides, this year he had hope!

Dressing quickly and hurrying downstairs, he greeted his mother with a kiss on her cheek. "Morning, mom."

"About time you got up, sleepyhead! I was about to send the calvary in for you," she teased.

He ran a hand through his tousled hair and smirked. "You can't rush perfection like this!" He laughed as him mom clicked her tongue and shook her head while trying to brush his hair into some semblance of order. She abandoned the task after a moment with a small smile and a hum.

"I suppose you are right," she hummed dramatically. "So, excited for your first day back at school?"

"Eh," he answered noncommittally while pouring himself a bowl of cereal. "I'm banking on the law of averages. There's no way Chloe could possibly be in my class again this year since I was stuck with her the past three years, and its almost a certainty that Nino WILL be in my class."

"Sounds like hope springs eternal!"

"You butter believe it!"

Sabine sighed heavily at that with a shake of her head. "You and your father, I swear…"

Adrien ate his cereal quickly and scarfed the milk before getting ready to rush out the door. He had to be quick if he was going to meet Nino at the steps on time.

Before he could get fully out of the bakery, though, Tom stopped him and shoved a box into his hands. "Here, share them with your friends! Best to start off on the right food."

Adrien peeked into the box with a grin. "You're the best, dad!" He paused, then added, "Though, I have a confection to make."

"Oh?" Tom answered, his brows rising in interest.

The teen nodded. "Thanks to these macaroons, I'll get the best sweet in the house!"

"Okay son, that's enough loafing around for you!"

"Wheat do you mean, dad? I'm on a roll!"

"Sounds to me like you are just asking for truffle."

"What can I say? As the son of bakers, I'm obligated to rise to the occasion!"

"You are going to be late!" Sabine called out, interrupted the pun spree. Adrien and Tom shared a cheesy grin before the teen took off with a wave.

There was a spring in his step as he raced to the intersection hoping to catch the light before it turned red. Luck wasn't with him, though. The walk light turned red just as he reached it with a groan, bouncing on his heels in anticipation. Then he noticed the old man still crossing the road, as well as the car quickly approaching with no indication of slowing.

Jumping to action, Adrien dropped his things and rush to the old man, quickly lifting and racing him safely to the curb, just in time for the car to narrowly miss the two of them.

Adrien's heart was in his throat as he frowned after the racing car, and then back down to the old man, who dusted himself off and stood on his own with support of his cane, saying: "Oh, thank you very much, young man!" they both glanced down at Adrien's belongings, including the now-open box of macaroons that had just been kicked by a passing foot, spilling some of its contents onto the ground. "What a shame," the old man commiserated while the blue-haired youth bent over to pick up his things and the rest of the box.

"It's alright. Your life is more important!" he answered, offering one of the remaining macaroons to the old man. "Besides, its the thought that counts," he tacked on with a smile.

Just then the walk light turned green, and Adrien left with a smile and a wave.

The old man smiled back with a thoughtful stroke of his beard and a glance at the bakery behind him.

* * *

Nino was already inside by the time Adrien arrived at school. That was probably just as well as the bell was going to ring soon. He slid into the classroom, happy to find Nino at the back of the room, where he joined him. They shared a grin and fist bump. Before Adrien could fully sit, however, Mme. Bustier called up to them. "Adrien, Nino? Why don't you two sit up front this year?" They both groaned, spotting Chloe entering the room, and haughtily taking a seat with Sabrina in the second row.

"Great. Chloe." Adrien said under his breath, with Nino groaning in commiseration. Still, they gathered their things and made their way to the row in front of Chloe's since the other front seat was already occupied by a girl they hadn't met yet.

Before they could sit there, Chloe interrupted with indignation strong in her voice. "Uh, excuse me?! You can't sit there. That seat is reserved for my very best personal friend, Marinette. Since that will be her seat, one of you will have to sit with the new girl." She glared at Adrien. "Preferably Baker Boy."

Adrien then stubbornly sat down, crossing his arms. "I really don't feel like putting up with your nonsense this year, Chloe. I'll move when Mme. Bustier tells me to." He offered Nino a macaroon, who gladly accepted. "Besides, you should really try to be nicer to people. Who even is this Marinette?"

Sabrina piped up from the seat behind Nino. "Only the most perfect girl in Paris!… Aside from Chloe, that is. She's the only daughter of the famous designer, Gabriel Agreste! She's a famous model and an up-and-coming designer in her own right. She's super cool!" Sabrina gushed.

"And that is Her. Seat." Chloe fumed.

Adrien rolled his eyes and leaned over to Nino. "Hey, I'm going to introduce myself to the new girl. Save my seat, yeah?"

Nino gave him a thumbs up. "Gotcha, dude!"

Adrien smiled and hopped across the aisle, sitting with the red-headed girl. "Hey! Name's Adrien," he introduced himself, offering a macaroon to her. She took one with a smile.

"Thanks! I'm Alya." She took a bite. "These are really good."

Adrien smiled proudly. "My dad made them. We own the bakery across the street from the school."

"I'm definitely going to have to stop there later, then," she grinned. "Hey, that was a really cool thing you did, by the way. I was wondering if anyone was going to stand up to that ice cream cake face. I mean, who died and made her queen?"

"Chloe? Her dad is the mayor. I'd like to say you'll get used to her, but she's really good and getting under people's skin."

Alya snorted. "Yeah, I can see that."

"I'm going to sit back with my friend, but if you want to during the break, Nino and I can show you around and introduce you to the rest of the class," he offered.

"That would be really cool of you, thanks," she answered, waving across the aisle to Nino, who smiled and waved back.

Adrien settled himself back in his seat just as Mme. Bustier called the class to a start. "Now, for those of you who have PE, M. Dargencourt is expecting you at the stadium. The rest of you can head over to the library…"

"Ki-i-i-m!" A large boy yelled, grabbing an athletic boy by the collar of his shirt and raising a fist.

"Ivan! What is going on?" Mme. Bustier called out in warning.

"Its Kim!" Ivan returned, rearing his fist back, angrily. "I'm gonna…"

"Ivan, go to the principal's office!"

With a growl, the large boy balled up the note in his hand and stormed out of the room.

* * *

Marinette held a tight grip on her handmade book bag, designed especially by her for this very important first day of school as she raced Nathalie and the butterflies in her stomach. She had sneaked out of the house and evaded the Gorilla all the way here, and her destination was so close! Victory was swiftly approaching! Just another twenty steps or so…

"Marinette! Stop!" The car squealed to a stop and Nathalie ejected herself, chasing after her wayward ward. "You know this isn't what your father wants."

And she did know it well. Her father had been quite clear on his expectations for her. Unfortunately, she was bored, ambitious, and overall, lonely. She wanted to make friends.

"But, I'm sure if I can just show father…" Her words were cut short as her attention fell on an old man who had fallen prone on the ground with his cane out of reach. "Oh, no!" She raced over, grabbing the man's cane and helping him to his feet before handing it back to him. "Are you hurt? Do you need medical assistance?"

"No, no, young lady, I'll be fine. Thank you," he answered, patting her hand that was still holding his arm steady.

She exhaled deeply with a relieved smile. That smile dissipated quickly as it landed back on Nathalie and the Gorilla, both who were now standing to block her path to the school. Dejectedly, she trudged back over to them. "I'm sure if I could just show father than I can handle school, he'll change his mind. Please, Nathalie! You know how much this means to me…"

"Marinette…" The tone of her voice made it clear that her answer wasn't going to change. Her father wanted her home, and home was where Nathalie was going to take her.

Defeated, at least for today, Marinette turned a longing gaze up at Collège Françoise Dupont and got in the car.

The old man watched it drive away, a smile on his face for the second time that day.

* * *

Ivan barged into the principal's office, only to be rebuked by Principal Damocles. After being told to leave and then knock to be let in, Ivan's anger was boiling. Shutting the door a bit harder than necessary, the large boy thought he was beginning to see red. Only, it wasn't just red… but purple. And a voice.

"Stoneheart, I am Hawkmoth…"

* * *

Nathalie droned on with questions that Marinette answered with ease and boredom. The tedium of this homeschooling was eating away at her creativity, and the young girl could just feel her soul slipping away one answer at a time. Much more of this and she might as well start making nothing but doll clothes for herself. She wasn't far from that as it was, in any case. If it wasn't for the fact that her father allowed her the creative freedom to design and wear her own clothes - with his approval- she'd absolutely be ready to rebel. She was more than just a perfect dress up doll for her father's fashion lines.

"Now, I believe we can be done for today if you'd like…" Nathalie began.

Marinette smacked her hands down on the table in a perfect imitation of Chloe and abruptly stood up. "Nathalie, I want to see my father," she declared.

"And here I am," Gabriel Agreste declared, surprising both women. "Marinette, I am very disappointed in you. I have already told you that you are not going to school." The harshness of his tone was scalding.

Taking a deep breath, the blond teenager stood straight and matched her father's demeanor. "Father, I still believe that it would be beneficial to me professionally to experience the real world in a controlled setting such as school. How can I design clothing for my age group without knowing what the people in my age group are like? I need inspiration, and I wholeheartedly believe that public school…"

"That is not necessary," her father cut her off. "It is too dangerous for you out there. You are my daughter. You are safe here and have everything you need."

"Father, I don't see how school could possibly be dangerous…"

"You are not going to school, and that is final." Without preamble, Gabriel turned and left the dining room.

Marinette stared down at the books on the table before her, blurring as the tears gathered in her eyes, and her fists clenched painfully, her nails biting into the palms of her hands.

Like her father, she turned on her heel and stormed off back to her room.

* * *

Adrien and Nino were telling Alya about each of their classmates in the library as a means of informal introduction, pointing out different people and giving the new girl a little bit of feedback so she had an idea of who each person was.

"The shy redhead over there? That's Nathaniel. He's really good at drawing, but not so great at talking to people."

"That dudette there is Alix. She's like mega cool and super competitive. Never offer to race her."

"Mylene is very sweet, though she scares easily. Bright colors are her friend."

Alya soaked it in and asked really good detailed questions. It actually kinda felt like being interviewed.

The auburn-haired girl leaned back in her chair and smiled. "Its actually my dream to one day be the best investigative reporter out there. I've actually already started with my own personal blog, though it isn't really big or popular yet. I don't think I've really found my niche yet."

"It's really cool that you already know what you wanna do. I haven't really thought about it," Adrien added in.

Nino adjusted his cap and smiled widely. "I'm not limiting myself to one dream, dude. I wanna be a professional DJ, but then I want to branch out into film making."

Just as Alya leaned forward to get into interview mode, a rumble shook the library and a roar followed by screams could be heard through the CCTV in the media center. The trio rushed to the television in time to see a huge rock monster bust through the gates of the school, shouting "Ki-i-im!"

"Dude! Is that Ivan?!" Nino puzzled, aghast.

Alya, on the other hand, was excited beyond belief as she hurridly checked her phone. "Battery, check! Signal, check! This is awesome!"

Adrien caught her arm before she could rush out, "Where are you going?"

She gestured to the tv. "That is a real-life super villain! And where there is a supervillain, there's got to be a superhero! I am not missing this!"

Adrien frowned as she left them behind, but then turned to Nino. "I'm going to head home and make sure everyone is okay."

"Same, dude," Nino replied. The two shared a nod of agreement and then took off in their own separate directions.

* * *

Marinette fumed into her pillow, screaming her frustration when a boom shook the mansion. Startled out of her fury, she ran to the front door only to be shocked by the scene before her: a large stone monster being attacked by law enforcement and general chaos. She blinked twice and then ran back to her room, springing over the back of the couch to grab the remote and turn on the TV in time to see the mayor calling a state of emergency and for all citizens to stay in their homes.

As she soaked in that unbelievable scene, she put down her remote, brushing her fingers against an ornate box that she'd never seen before…

* * *

Adrien sighed with relief that his folks and the bakery were safe. Now he was up in his room, watching the news on his computer. "Jeez, talk about a rough first day…" he quipped right before his eyes landed on a red ornate box right next to his keyboard…

* * *

And two boxes were opened…

_AN: And I think I'm going to call it finished for now. I'm not sure If I'm going to continue this or not since it was really just an idea that kept popping into my head while I was trying to work on my own original fiction. xD I might come back later and add more to the story depending on if this generates interest. I've got a lot to decide though! Who gets what Miraculous? Who likes who? How exactly will the two interact as Chat Noir/Lady Noir? _

_I'm of the mind that they'd still get the same Miraculous's though. Mari still has the creativity needed for Ladybug, And Adrien has the martial prowess to make a wonderful Chat._

_HOWEVER... how would they ACT? Adrien is already pretty Chat-like... a carefree punning dork... and Marinette is already way too serious..._


	2. Chapter 2

_AN: Okay, so this story didn't quite let me go, and my own daughter got super excited about it, so here I am back again! I removed the complete tag, since I know I wanna do more. I'm just... not sure when I want to end it. XD I don't really have a plot right now, other than the actual plot of the show... This kinda devolved into a neat little "What If" character study. It MAY develop plot later on down the line. We'll see. So far, I'll just enjoy my verbal sandbox._

_I like . It lets me make cover art like the one I made for this story! (I have their superhero versions done, also)_

_Review Feedback: (BTW THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REVIEWS!)_

_Dying-in-a-churchyard: Here you go!_

_Beautitude Girl: I thought so, too, in the end. I actually ended up writing this chapter two ways; one way with original kwamis, and then the way with the swap. I went with the version below cause I liked it way better. Finding balance is a huge theme, after all!_

_pinksakura271: I fixed the summary. :) I hope you like it! I'm super excited for reverse love square, TBH. I ended up not going with your kwami preference, but I really did try it both ways. Maybe this might do it some justice and redeem the concept for you? Thanks for trying it out, and I'm glad you liked it so far. :D_

_DocMcDuck: Love your name, and I, too, am loving these possibilities! I'm so glad you are enjoying it, and I hope I can keep it up, for both of us!_

_And to the guest, and anyone else who read and liked/loved/followed, Thank you! _

* * *

_An hour ago_

Master Fu was experiencing a bit of a conundrum as he sat in the park across the street from the Dupain Cheng Bakery, two miraculous boxes clenched in his fists.

"What's wrong, master?" the small turtle kwami asked from the cover of the master's Hawaiian printed pocket.

Fu shook his head. "They are perfect, but which box should go to who?" He hummed thoughtfully. "The girl's creativity suits her perfectly for the ladybug, but I fear the strictness of her upbringing will make her too afraid to bend the rules, especially with Tikki's kind but lawful nature." He held up the other box. "The black cat, on the other hand, is best suited to those with martial prowess. The boy would be perfect, but again, Plagg is more likely to exacerbate bad habits. There is also his… dietary requirements to consider. The black cat is not easily sated."

"That is true master…" the turtle pondered alongside the elderly gentleman.

A few more moments of silence stretched out between them before the old man sighed. "I believe we know what needs to be done, Wayzz." He handed one of the boxes over to his tiny friend.

With a nod, the turtle kwami flew to the upper window and vanished into the home of Adrien Dupain-Cheng. Once the delivery was made and he had returned, the pair made their way to the Agreste Mansion. "Are you sure this is best, master?"

Fu smiled. "The black cat and ladybug have always worked best as a team. They will balance each other."

* * *

_Now_

"Woah!" The boy cartwheeled in his computer chair, falling over backward before quickly pulling himself vertical, propping up on the seat of the now horizontal chair. With a probing finger poking at the tiny red and black-spotted god, he exclaimed, "Big, big bug!"

Tikki, in return, blinked her big blue eyes a few times, surprise expressed clearly on her face. She had not expected her new holder to be a teenage boy. Her holders in the past had typically been girls blessed with innate creativity and gentle souls. She could hardly recall the last time she'd had a male holder, and being near timeless herself, that was a long time ago, indeed. She could tell right away that this boy had a deep heart and a kind soul, though. She could see it in his expressive blue eyes, and that was just as important.

She smiled. "Hi, I'm Tikki! It's a pleasure to meet you, Adrien!" she introduced herself, then allowed her eyes to wander over the room. It was a nice sized room, but the architecture reminded her of a dressed-up attic space. It wasn't a bad thing. Some of her favorite holders had been artists living in attics, though it was clear that her new holder had different interests. The punching bag and martial arts equipment reminded her of her holder from the Ming Dynasty. It wasn't unknown for a ladybug holder to be a fighter, though most were great problem solvers. Perhaps the guardian had seen some of that in her new holder? Time would tell.

For now, the dark-haired boy was opening and closing his mouth like a fish, struggling to get the words out. "Wha… What are you?" He leaned forward and poked a finger at her little belly, causing her to giggle. "Is my dad pranking me? I bet my dad's pranking me." He looked around the room but didn't spot any hidden cameras or bakers waiting in the wings.

Tikki's giggles subsided as she gently pushed his finger away with a smile. "This is no prank, Adrien! I am the kwami of the Ladybug Miraculous, which you are now the holder for," she explained with pride. "With it, you can turn into a superhero with the powers of luck and creation."

"Dude," Adrien expressed, stealing a word from Nino while plopping back heavily on his rump. "Alya was right!" A beatific grin spread across the teen's face. "And I get to be the superhero! Wait 'til Nino gets a load of this!"

Tikki panicked, flying into Adrien's face while making a shushing motion. "No, no, no! No one can know who you are until the main villain is defeated!"

His smile faded into a thoughtful frown. "Oh, yeah. Secret identities and superheroes do go hand in hand." He cupped his hand, letting the little red kwami sit in his palm while he spoke with her. "So I need to defeat Stoneheart?"

The ladybug kwami shook her head. "Yes and no. Stoneheart is just a normal person who has been possessed. The real villain is whoever is holding the Butterfly miraculous. He's using it to create corrupted butterflies known as akumas, which possess an item held by a person experiencing strong negative emotions and changes them into beings like Stoneheart."

"So I need to get the possessed item?" Adrien guessed.

"Exactly!" Tikki happily chirped. "As my holder, you will have two powers: Lucky Charm, which summons an item that will help you defeat the akuma, and Miraculous Ladybug, which will restore all the damage caused by the akuma when the lucky charm is thrown in the air. Once you use Lucky Charm, you'll have five minutes before you transform back."

"Sounds simple enough," Adrien stated, standing up and setting his computer chair upright.

Tikki giggled. "You say that now. Lucky Charm can be very unpredictable. The trick is figuring out how to use it."

Picking up the ornate box, Adrien took a good look at the red and black spotted earrings inside. With a smirk, he fingered the black piercing studs in his ears. He knew piercing his ears over the summer was a good idea!

He carried the miraculous over to the mirror on his dresser with Tikki talking to him as he moved. "Your weapon will be a magical yo-yo. To purify the akuma, you just need to catch it with the yo-yo, and I'll do the rest."

Adrien hummed and examined his studs in the mirror. He technically wasn't supposed to remove them for another week. With a grunt, he removed the lock-back from the sharpened stud in each ear, pleased that the piercings seemed to be healed. He replaced them with the miraculous, which surprised him by turning black once in his ears.

"Cool!" He looked at his new little friend with a lopsided grin. "I was actually kind of worried that red wasn't going to be my color."

Tikki giggled. "And now they look so similar to your original earrings, no one will even notice the difference!" She nodded in approval. "Ready, Adrien? The transformation words are 'Spots On'."

With a wide grin and bubbling with excitement, Adrien answered.

"Tikki, Spots On!"

* * *

When Plagg was pulled from the miracle box and drawn out into the wide-open world for the first time in ages, the shocked face of a blond-haired teenage girl with the most innocent green eyes he'd ever seen was not what he'd expected. Well, the shocked teen part he did expect, but the wide-eyed wonder of innocence? Not a chance. It made him wonder what exactly the Guardian was thinking. Then again, looks could be deceiving. The best holders of the destruction miraculous usually had something innately broken in them, after all, and this girl did look like she'd just been indulging in a pity party.

Despite the slightly red eyes, though, she managed to screech and throw a pillow at him. "Eek! Its a flying cat bug thing!"

He evaded the pillow and scowled at her. "Hey, that's not nice! Name's Plagg, Nice to meetcha!" he introduced himself while his eyes wandered over the room. It was huge! He must have hit jackpot with this one! While his new holder re-armed herself with another throw pillow, he dodged again by saying, "Hooo! What's over here?" before zipping across the room to investigate. A large portion of the room was dedicated to a state of the art sewing station and various craft materials, most of which the kwami had never seen before. "Is this edible?" He asked, taking a bite of a large yellow block that tasted terrible and smelled like rubber. "No, it isn't!" He zipped to the other side of the room, where the walk-in closet stood open. It was all neatly organized and sorted, with a single solitary laundry basket sitting on the floor.

By this time, his new holder realized what he was about and was on the chase. "That was my best eraser!" she raged, followed by "No, no, no, no, stay out of there!" as he dived into the closet.

To his entire disappointment, even her dirty clothes smelled sickly sweet with a light fragrance. He phased out of the bottom of the basket while she was searching for him in it and made his way over to a set of three dress forms. "Ooh! Shiny!" He stated excitedly, mesmerized by an elegant dress crafted out of some type of material that appeared green but shimmered blue.

"Stay away from that!" the girl panicked and, moving, twisting and tumbling in a way that was pure art, she threw a sheet quickly over the dress. That was probably a good idea, actually. Plagg was not known for his care of delicate shiny things.

Thinking quickly, the increasingly flustered Marinette cast her eyes around the room and then had an epiphany. Rolling across her bed acrobatically to reach the other side of the room in the quickest time, she pulled a large wicker basket out from under her sewing table and whistled.

Plagg saw heaven. Heaps and heaps of yarned heaven. All neatly ordered and rolled up, just waiting for him to dive in.

After a moment or two, Marinette extricated the flying cat…bug… thing… from her best yarn, now in a shambled mess, and held him tightly, while rubbing behind its ears. Cats liked that, right? "Okay, so you definitely are not an apology gift from my father… what are you exactly, and how did you get in my room?"

The little cat bug thing was distracted by her ministrations, but then remembered that he was above such things, shaking his head to make her stop. "I'm a kwami. I can give you superpowers. Yours are the power of destruction." Plagg made a little shrug motion in her hands. "I'm starving. You got any cheese?" he begged.

Her large green eyes blinked. "Superpowers? Me?"

"Yeah. Cataclysm. Lets you destroy anything you touch," he answered curtly.

The blond blinked. "Why would I want to do that?"

Wow. He was going to have to work on this one, it would seem. "Look, Kitten, you and whoever got the Ladybug are partners. You destroy things to beat the bag guys and then the Bug fixes the damage afterward."

"Beat… the bad guys…" she parroted, then bit her lip in trepidation.

Oh, Plagg realized. She didn't want to be a hero. Well, that wouldn't do. Now, how could he entice her to step out of her comfort zone?

Looking around the cavernous room, he realized that her comfort zone was quite cushy. She had everything she could possibly want! But, then again… all of his holders were broken in some way, after all...

"It's a nice cage, but don't you wanna get out of it?" he asked, voice dripping with temptation.

Her eyes blew wide open with surprise, and the black cat kwami could see the wheels turning in her head.

"What do I need to do?" she asked, now guarded as if she was afraid to hope.

Man, the guardian knew how to pick 'em.

"Just put on the ring. The key phrase is 'claws out'," he answered. She released him and picked up the box slipping on the ring. "Now about that cheese…"

"Plagg! Claws Out!"

"Waaaaiii….!" he wailed as he was dragged into the ring. He grinned anyway. It seemed she was more than eager, after all. So he didn't get out all the instructions, big deal! She'd figure it out eventually…

* * *

So this is freedom, Marinette thought as she raced across rooftops and pole-vaulted across streets and alleyways. She took a deep breath as she soared in a long jump, feeling the adrenal mix of fear, excitement, and liberation, in that order. It had taken years of ballet and dance to remedy the embarrassing clumsiness of a much younger Marinette, but the cat's grace she now felt put a saunter in her step and a surge of overwhelming confidence in her spine.

She felt invincible! Stoneheart wasn't going to know what hit him once she found him! Besides, she was Marinette Agreste, and if the pressure of being the only daughter of Gabriel Agreste hadn't killed her yet, then being a superhero was going to be a breeze! But wait… she couldn't go by "Marinette Agreste" while wearing a catsuit. Father would kill her. She needed a name, something classy but spunky. Something that stood out and rolled off the tongue… Black Cat was just too obvious, Cat Woman was taken, Cat Girl sounded awful, Catastrophe was…

"Watch out!"

She hadn't realized that she had gone that deep into her head until she snapped back into reality to see a red and black-spotted blur flying towards her at a break-neck speed while she herself was halfway though a pole vault. With no time to react, they met in the middle, spiraling down her extended baton, like ribbons on a maypole, until they wound up at the bottom, thoroughly tangled in her long braided hair and the string of the new boy's… yoyo?

"I seem to be a captive audience," she smirked at her trapped compatriot while appreciating the dusting of pink that bloomed beneath his red and black mask. She liked his eyes. The red was a good match for helping the blue stand out, though she was amused by how embarrassed he looked. "You must be the parter my kwami told me about." She let her baton retract to its original size, giving them some wiggle room to extricate themselves. "I'm… Kitty Noir," she decided, allowing her voice to flirtatiously drop into a lower tone.

He was a good six inches taller than her, and she was actively fighting butterflies in her stomach. This was the first time she'd been this close to a boy, ever, and he was a cute one at that.

After allowing his yoyo to re-spool so they could be fully freed, he took a step back, grinning sheepishly. "I guess so!" he replied. "I'm… uh," he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Ladybug?" she suggested with a giggle, leaning into his personal space just a little with a Cheshire grin. The black-spotted pattern on the red of his outfit was obviously meant to imitate a ladybug's spots, though the large splotches of black on the sides and under-armor of his arms and legs helped emphasize the masculine form. It was a good design, and he definitely wore it well. "For some reason, I don't think that quite fits you."

He swallowed heavily and leaned back. "Er… I think Mister Bug is more appropriate, actually." Before Kitty Noir could comment again, Stoneheart crashed into the road ahead of them, screaming "Ki-i-im!" before running further down the road.

"Shall we, my good sir?" she slightly bowed with an outstretched hand in the direction of the villain before bounding off after.

* * *

Adrien, er… Mister Bug in a stunned daze watched his black-clad partner chasing after the akumatized victim, long blond braid swinging behind her as she took to the roofs. She was certainly a character. He cleared his throat, quickly getting over the shock of finding himself face to face with a real-life cat-girl and springing into action after her. He could tell this was going to be a fun partnership already. He was happy that he wasn't going to be saving Paris by himself, and he'd be lying if he said he hadn't been worried about it.

Right now, he was more worried about Ivan, though. He and Kim weren't the best of friends, but they'd been in the same class more times than not since primary school. The large boy was intimidating, but kind-hearted and didn't deserve to be used by some villain to terrorize the city.

He thought about the incident at school while he raced Kitty Noir to the Stadium, where he knew Kim was. The cat sure was fast, but he hadn't had time to talk to his partner, and he was pretty sure the gung-ho girl was operating without full knowledge of the situation.

He sailed to the top of the stadium, just in time to see Kim being vaulted away by Kitty Noir from an enraged Stoneheart. The teen athlete's whoop carried through the air as the black-clad heroine dropped him off in the nosebleed section. Stoneheart roared and began to chase after the pair with ground-shaking stomps, prompting the bug-themed hero to action. "Here goes nothing…" he mumbled to himself and tossed the yo-yo, wrapping it around the stone figure's feet and pulling. Instead of toppling the akumatized boy, as he had hoped, he was pulled screaming down to the stadium ground. Skidding to a stop, he quickly took to his feet and brushed the grass off his red and black outfit right before looking into an annoyed stone face. At least he managed to get Stoneheart's attention. He caught his yo-yo and smiled. "Hey! So, uh… why don't you pick one someone your own size?"

"You mean you?" Stoneheart countered, swinging a large stone fist in his direction, slamming it into the ground as he barely dodged.

He threw his yo-yo again in another attempt to tangle Stoneheart enough to slow him down, managing to wrap it around a massive wrist. "Yeah, I didn't really think this through," he admitted, right as Stoneheart grabbed the string around his wrist and used it to catapult the bug into the other side of the stadium.

He braced for an impact that never really came as he was caught from behind by Kitty Noir, who changed their momentum into less of projectile motion and more of a controlled fall. He smirked at her. "Nice of you to join me, kitty cat! We seem to have gotten off to a rocky start."

"Sorry I haven't been very helpful yet," she answered. "I'm more of a lover than a fighter, actually… Watch out!" she yelled as Stoneheart threw a soccer goal toward a steadily filming Alya. On instinct, Mister Bug threw the yo-yo and somehow managed to cat's cradle it around the guard railing on either side of his classmate, allowing the large projectile to bounce safely away from her. Kitty glared at the villain. "I think I can make an exception now, though. Cataclysm!" Dark energy pooled into her right hand as she charged the villain. Mister Bug didn't like the sound of that, and if she was about to do what he thought…

"Woah, Kitty!" Mister Bug stopped her with a tug of her long braid. She gave him an unfriendly look but listened as he continued. "You can't just use your power on him like that. He's a victim of a possessed item that we need to destroy to free him." She blanched, clenching her fist closed. Mister Bug sighed as her ring gave off its first beep. "And you only have five minutes before you transform back. Didn't your kwami tell you anything?"

She gave him a sheepishly embarrassed half-smile and shrugged. She cleared her throat. "Okay, so what's the plan? I don't see anything on him that isn't rock."

Mister Bug thoughtfully rested his chin on his hand while he thought. If the item wasn't on him… Oh! The note Ivan had balled up! "He's holding it. Have you noticed that he never opens his right fist? Its got to be there."

"Okay," his feline companion tilted her head, "So how do we get to it, then?"

He smiled. "My turn. Lucky Charm!"

In a burst of red sparkles, a black polka-dotted package fell into his hands, complete with clamshell packaging. "And here I am without my scissors… Do me the honors?" He held the package out to Kitty Noir, who looked at the black energy in her hand and gently tapped the packaging with a clawed finger. It instantly disintegrated to reveal a polka-dotted "An emergency life raft?" complete with ripcord.

Kitty Noir took one look at it and her face lit up. "I know what to do!"

"You do?" Mister Bug responded in shock.

She held out her hand. "Do you trust me?"

Did he really? She seemed nice enough, and they were in this together. "Sure, I trust you," he said, placing the lucky charm in her outstretched hand. She holstered her baton then used her black and green tie belt to secure it around her waist.

"That's good!" she grinned. He had a split second to question his decision before she threw him unceremoniously at Stoneheart. Who then caught him in his free fist.

Before he could wonder what had happened, he saw his partner running towards them, holding the ripcord. What is she doing? He momentarily questioned, but then realized her plan as Stoneheart dropped the black ball in his hand to catch her. She immediately pulled the cord, rapidly inflating the raft so that she could repel off of it, obscuring Stoneheart's vision at the same time. She landed with a heel drop right on the akumatized item. In a ripple of black energy, Ivan returned to normal, freeing Mister Bug as the little black butterfly started to fly away. "Bye-bye, little butterfly!" Kitty Noir said with a little wave to the akuma.

On the word "butterfly", Mister Bug remembered what he was supposed to do. "Time to de-evilize!" He threw the yo-yo, trapping the akuma within. He then tapped it and grinned at the black cat as the white butterfly flew away. "Now you can say 'bye-bye, Kitty."

She returned his grin. "That's a pretty neat trick!"

"So was yours! That was some crazy smart thinking." He walked over to the red and black raft. "But wait, there's more!" He declared like an infomercial before throwing it in the air. "Miraculous Mister Bug!"

The lucky charm exploded into a swarm of ladybugs that engulfed the stadium, school, and streets between, fixing all the damage. "What am I doing here?" Ivan asked, confused, while the duo smiled at each other.

"Pound it!" They fist-bumped, right before Kitty's ring beeped for the last time.

"You should get going," Mister Bug reluctantly stated. "Secret identities gotta stay secret, you know!"

She, equally reluctantly, looked at her ring and sighed. "Yep, guess so." She put her hand on her hip and gave him a jaunty two-finger salute. "I'll catch you later, Bug!" And then she was gone.

He smirked at her retreating back, then picked up the note that Ivan had dropped. Straightening it out, he read, " 'You haven't even got the guts to tell Mylene you love her, wuss.' Ouch, harsh!" He gave Ivan a sympathetic look as he walked over to the despondent boy.

"Kim wrote it. He's always making fun of me," Ivan lamented morosely.

Mister Bug held out a hand and helped the bigger boy to his feet. "Hey, you want my advice?"

Ivan looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding slowly.

"Guys like Kim can be jerks, but the best thing you can do is prove him wrong. Tell Mylene how you feel. It's nothing to be ashamed of, and Mylene is super nice. You might get a girlfriend out of it."

"You know Mylene?" Ivan asked.

Before Mister Bug could backtrack and reply, Alya cut in, bless her soul.

"Incredible! Uncanny! Amazing! Are you going to be protecting Paris from now on? How did you get your powers? Did you get stung by a radioactive ladybug? I've got a ton of questions to ask you, uh… Mister… uh…"

He smiled and waved, hearing his own miraculous beep in his ears. "Mister Bug. Let's keep it simple, shall we?" He then yo-yo'd out of there as if the dogs of hell were on his heels. Knowing Alya, that probably wasn't far from the truth.

* * *

Adrien plopped down in the beanbag while the news played on the computer, showing again the footage that Alya had posted. "We did it, Tikki! Captured, cleansed, and cured, just like the doctor ordered!"

The kwami hugged Adrien's cheek. "I knew you could!"

"Adrien! Dinner time!"

He blushed happily at the kwami's praise. "I'll bring you back some cookies," he said, heeding him mom and heading downstairs. The news was playing there as well, only this time it was Mayor Bourgeois delivering a press conference speech.

"I am pleased to announce that we will be organizing a huge celebration in honor of our city's new protectors, Mister Bug and Kitty Noir!" the TV broadcasted.

"It's so nice to have such good young people stand up and protect the city. Their parents must be so proud!" His mom gushed as she placed a bowl on the table.

"And such teamwork! Did you see the video that was posted online, Adrien?" Tom asked, spooning some salad onto his place.

The teen grinned. "Yeah, they did make a great team. _Miraculous_, even."

* * *

Marinette plopped backward on her bed, holding her stuffed cat tightly to her chest while she stared at the ceiling, a far-away smile in her eyes. "Mister Bug, huh?" A light blush dusted her cheeks while she let out a little happy squeal and squeezed the stuffed cat tighter.

Plagg blanched and tried his best to distract himself from whatever weird girl thing that just was. He caressed the container in front of him lovingly. "Camembert, my one true love! Oh, how I've missed you!" He dived in happily, pleased that his new holder had at least asked what he wanted to eat before… well. It had been a while since the last time he belonged to a teenage girl, but he could still remember it like yesterday. He sighed deeply. This was going to be a loooong cycle.


	3. Chapter 3

_AN: Welcome back! I'm on a roll with this, though I have no idea when this train is stopping. :) I suspect updates will slow down eventually... Regardless, here are the Ch. 2 review responses!_

_To anyone wanting to see the pictures I badly photoshopped, look for crazycatwrites on deviantart. I don't have much on there so it should be easy to find!_

_derkeks47: Thanks! I'm trying to keep a balance between these two so that battles aren't so one-sided. I want it to be more of a partnership than it is in canon. _

_Videocrazy: I can promise you that Kitty Noir won't be making all the plans. I think you are right in the form of the lucky charm taking the user's way of thinking into account, but it was more complex than that. In the case of Reflectdoll, the lucky charm worked for both Mister Bug's AND Lady Noir's ways of thinking. As for the name "Kitty Noir", it's an homage to both Kitty Pride, of the X-men, and Miss Kitty from the old TV show "Gunsmoke" (speaking of unrequited romances xD). She wanted a name that was playful and flirty, yet classy, so the Kitty part covers the first two, while the Noir covers the last. Thank you so much for the long review, and I hope I continue to do well and get better as the "story" progresses. (still don't have my own plot, though...)_

_Titanfire999: IKR?!_

_DocMcDuck: I hope this satisfies. Hawky still needs to go back to the drawing board, though!_

_pinksakura271: Thank YOU for long reviews! I enjoy reading everyone's opinions, even if they don't mesh my own, and in fact, I prefer reviews that challenge my own thinking. It causes introspection and reflection, which leads to better writing and storytelling. Thank you so much for batting blog name ideas back and forth with me! It was truly helpful. :) _

_Princessanime21: As you wish. :) _

_Evergone the Great: I should totally work in a reflectdoll-esque episode into this story at some point! (though not too soon, I think)_

_And to the Guest and the others who liked, favorited, and followed: Thank you so much! _

* * *

He failed. More specifically, the one he had gifted powers to had failed, losing his akumatized item easily to a pair of green teenagers. It was both infuriating and encouraging. The miraculous of the ladybug and black cat might not yet be in his hands, but they were in play. If he continued to draw out the heroes, they would eventually make a mistake, and he could then claim the ring and earrings. It was only a matter of time.

"Nooroo, dark wings fall," he commanded, dropping his transformation. He took a deep breath, contemplating his next step.

The pieces were on the board, and the game had just begun, with his opponents none the wiser as to his intentions. Green children are what they were. He played the battle back in his memory. Both children played a defensive game, but neither seemed eager to attack. Perhaps the direct approach would be effective.

He adjusted his cravat, concealing his miraculous once more before returning to his office, thinking all the while. Appearing before them as himself, or as Hawkmoth, was out of the question. He needed to deliver a message, not just to the so-called heroes, but to Paris as a whole.

Now in his office, he turned to gaze up at the painting of his beloved, his jaw set in determination. He chose his path, and turning back was no longer an option. Emilie needed him. Marinette needed Emilie. He was not suited to raising a daughter the likes of Marinette. She was perfection, so like her mother. Already a year had passed since Emilie had left them, and it was surely only her influence that had persisted within Marinette to make it so. She lacked his detachment, as much as he had attempted to instill it. The world was cold, and he had attempted to harden her through a strict schedule and exacting instruction. His own interactions with his daughter over the past year had been utilitarian at best. So much of his time and energy had been spent on finding a way to restore his wife, that he had missed when exactly it was that his child had blossomed into a young woman. The way she had presented herself today, her mother's poise and conviction, his logic, and pride, was truly something to behold. She was not one to be cowed, apparently, and his pride swelled even as he put his foot down.

At that moment she had been the spitting image of her mother, and the brief thought that perhaps Marinette would be fine without Emilie crossed his mind. The thought felt like a betrayal, and his heart clenched, the anguish of loss renewed. He missed that spark, the energy. Seeing his daughter growing and thriving even without her mother was more painful than he could bear. With a heavy sigh, he sat in his designer office chair and pressed the intercom button. "Nathalie, inform Marinette that I will be taking dinner in the atelier this evening."

"Yes, sir," her voice replied over the intercom.

Seconds of silence turned into minutes and stretched until the orange light of sunset fell across his desk and danced across the illustrations displayed there. One, in particular, caught his attention, because it was new. It appeared to be an a-line cocktail dress with a Queen Anne bodice. The form was simple enough, but what made it stand out were the details. Intricate flowers and plants of a multitude of varieties appeared to climb the skirt, stopping shy of the bust line, sparse springs of ivy climbing along the waist. The notes on the paper indicated that they were to be hand-stitched. He scanned the image for a moment and then found what he was looking for; Marinette, signed in vines, leaves, and flowers, artfully hidden.

He made a note of several materials and forwarded them in a message to Nathalie. When all this was over, when Emilie was returned to them, then they could be together as a family again. Until then, these gestures would have to do. Marinette was strong. She was his daughter, after all.

* * *

Marinette, never in her life a fan of mornings, usually sleep-walked through her morning routine. Today, however, she was energized and excited to start the day. In the moments after waking up, she'd replayed the events of yesterday, relishing in the feeling of accomplishment. If her luck held out, then today would be her first day of school and she might actually get to make a friend! Dressed, teeth brushed, make-up applied, and halfway through curling the ends of her long blond pigtails to mimic the way her mother had styled her hair, she examined her reflection in the mirror.

"You are strong. You are confident. You can do anything. The only thing between you and what you want is the door. And your bodyguard. And Nathalie." Her positive self-talk started to wane, and she frowned. "Plagg," she called, putting the curling iron away and walking to the mini cat-bed she had made on her desk for the tiny god. He was still sleeping, making little noises as he probably dreamed of cheese. She poked at him. "Plagg, its time to go to school."

"Five more minutes…" he groaned and rolled over.

She scooped him up and laid him in the bottom of her purse. "If I wait five more minutes, I'll miss my window to sneak out and go to school!"

Grumbling about the sudden loss of his comfy spot, Plagg phased back out of the purse and flew in front of Marinette while she continued gathering her things. "You sure are strange. Why would you want to go to school when you could just kick back here and relax?"

"Kitty Noir can't be the only one getting out and having all the fun," she smirked, putting a sealed container of individually wrapped camembert slices in her purse. The lack of smell was worth the added effort. "I want to see what it's like to actually be a teenager for once."

Plagg followed after the container, hugging it from within her purse, murmuring "My poor darlings, how I miss your sweet, sweet fragrance!"

With a chuckle, Marinette held up her purse closer to her face and scratched his head with a finger. "Don't worry, Plagg. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Just imagine how strong it will smell when you finally open it and then instantly devour it?"

"You have a point," the cat kwami conceded.

"And this way I don't have to bathe in perfume to block the smell," she reminded. They'd spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find a smell compilation they both agreed on. In the end, they'd decided that the best smell was no smell.

"Thank heavens for that," Plagg agreed.

She snapped the purse closed, letting it hang at her side with the kwami safely hidden within, and cautiously opened her bedroom door. No Nathalie in sight. She slipped quietly down the hallway, passing the archway to the formal dining room that she had to go through to make her escape and crouched behind a large floral arrangement. She checked her watch. Nathalie should be coming to wake her in the next two minutes.

Like clockwork, the older woman came out of the dining room and walked up the hall to Marinette's bedroom door. A few knocks and "Marinette?" were heard faintly from down the hall before she rose and hurried through the now clear pathway.

Quickly and quietly, she navigated around the large dining table and slipped into the foyer. A smile bloomed on her face as she dashed for the front door.

"Marinette."

She stopped in her tracks at the sound of that stern voice and clenched the strap of her school bag. Dread crawling up her spine, she slowly turned to see her father standing at the top of the stairs, wrists held behind his back while he cut an imposing figure. She exhaled shakily. She was not expecting him to be out of his office.

"Father…"

"I told you that you will not be returning to that school," he stated crisply. She held her breath in response, refusing to show how much his words stung, but then he continued after a dramatic pause, "…without your bodyguard." Her eyes widened slightly, barely hoping to believe her ears. "Nathalie will manage your schedule. You will continue to do photoshoots, as well as ballet, violin, and Chinese lessons. Should you begin to lack in any of these areas, you will return to homeschooling…"

Before he could finish, Marinette ran up the stairs and wrapped a tight hug around his waist. "Thank you, thank, you, Father!"

He stiffened under her touch, but then reticently returned the hug, albeit one-handedly. Marinette stepped back to see her latest design held in his other hand. "I found this to be… most adequate," he stated referring to the paper. "I look forward to seeing the finished product, as well as your portfolio once you've had time to acquaint yourself with school."

"I promise you won't be disappointed father," she beamed, possibly happier than she'd been in the past year.

He simply nodded imperiously and watched as she quickly gathered her things once more and dashed off to meet her bodyguard out front.

* * *

With a kiss on his mom's cheek and a promise to his dad that he didn't "flour-get" anything, Adrien took off for school while carrying his breakfast croissant in his teeth. He didn't normally have a hard time getting up in the mornings- the early bird gene must be strong in this family of bakers- but this morning had been a bit harder than normal. With all the excitement over becoming Mister Bug yesterday and successfully saving Paris, he'd been almost to pumped to sleep. He'd spent most of the night getting to know Tikki, and after learning about her favorite foods, spent a good portion of the evening baking a special batch of double chocolate-chocolate chip cookies. He left a good portion of the batch in the cookie jar for his parents and packed several of them away in his book bag for his excited kwami. When his mom asked what the occasion was, he just smiled a secretive smile and smoothly replied, "I just wanted to practice using your special ingredient."

He dodged traffic and made it to the front of the school just as Alya was arriving. She waved him down, gesturing excitedly. "Hi, Adrien!" she greeted with a huge smile. "You will not believe what happened to me yesterday!"

"Oh?" he feigned ignorance. "What happened?"

"Did you see the video on the news? That was mine!" She pulled out her phone and started clicking and scrolling away while talking excitedly. "Look at how many views I've gotten! And this is just in the first day!" She did a bit more tapping. "I think I've finally found my niche. I made a whole new blog dedicated especially to the new superheroes. I'm calling it… drum roll, please…" then dramatically showed him her phone. "The Luckyblog!"

Adrien quirked an eyebrow as the corner of his lip twitched upward. The screen in front of him was themed after his superhero costume and the first post was already garnering a lot of attention. He scrolled down to the comments section and whistled. "That's a lot of foot traffic."

The blogger put a hand on her hip and shot her pointer finger to the phone with a wink "It's basically viral at this point."

"Well, it is pretty sick," Adrien agreed with a smirk.

"You mean that as in 'cool', right?" Alya poked back.

"Cool doesn't even cover the tip of the iceberg." He handed the phone back. "Seriously, Alya, that's major cool. I'm happy for you."

They entered the building and looked around for Nino, spotting him in a large group of their classmates, along with Chloe who was leaning on a pole and Ivan, who was sitting on a bench and appeared to be the focal point. The way Nino waved to the pair in a 'hurry up' motion, was their first indication that not all was well.

"You were totally out to crush me, dude!" Kim stated, sounding more impressed than upset.

Then Chloe had to go and open her big mouth. "Once a monster, always a monster." She smiled smugly as Ivan fumed and stood fists clenched before stomping away. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out!" she called out after him.

"How could you say that to Ivan?!" Alya yelled with righteous anger, Adrien's hand on her arm as he tried to hold her out of the blond's face.

"Oooh, you may want to hold back your dog, Adrien. She's going to turn in to a huge snarling monster any second now," the blond teased with her hands on her face in a fake expression of fear.

The redhead fumed, "Why you…"

"Stop it, Chloe. What you said was cruel and you know it. Why don't you just grow up already, instead of trying to make yourself feel better by putting everyone else down?"

She scoffed. "What do I have to feel bad about? I am practically perfect, unlike all you losers." And then she sauntered away, the smug smile never leaving.

Alya and Nino watched Chloe saunter away in disbelief at the blond's audacity, while Adrien's eyes were drawn to the direction that Ivan had taken off in, a bad feeling sinking in his gut. "I'll catch up with you guys later. I'm going to go check on something." He waved goodbye, then took off to the locker room.

He found Ivan leaning against the lockers, listening to music through his headphones. Taking a seat on the bench across from him, he knocked on the larger boy's knee to get his attention. Ivan opened his eyes and took off the headphones, leaning forward in a sulk. "Oh, hey, Adrien."

"Try not to let Chloe get to you, man. She's a piece of work, but probably not the girl you should be focusing on,"

"What do you mean by that?" Ivan questioned, confused.

Adrien looked to the ceiling and leaned back, nonchalantly throwing out, "I dunno, Mylene, maybe?"

Ivan scoffed but didn't deny it. This was a torch that Ivan had started to carry at the end of last year, and he knew Adrien knew it. The three of them- Adrien, Nino, and Ivan- had been tasked with making the music playlist for the end of the year celebration last year. During the conversation, the best friends had been surprised when Ivan declared a sudden interest in a certain love song. A few puns, some playful nudges, and a lot of friendly encouragement, and Ivan had let them in on his secret. "I'm no good with words. What would I even say to her?"

"Actions speak louder than words! What about that song you wrote?" Adrien paused, then, remembering Ivan's specific 'style' of music. "Though, uh… you might want to just let her read it."

Ivan's eyes lit up in hope. "You think it'll work?"

"There isn't a girl alive who wouldn't like to have a song written about them, trust me," Adrien encouraged, with an outstretched hand. He helped Ivan to his feet.

"Thanks, Adrien," he said, then took off.

"All in a day's work," Adrien said to himself.

Tikki flew out of his shirt and landed in his hand. "That was a very nice thing you just did, Adrien!" She beamed, then giggled. "I didn't realize you were such a good relationship counselor."

With his free hand, Adrien rubbed the back of his head. "Well, after three, going on four, years of sharing a class with Chloe, I've had to do it more often than not. I guess I just sort of fell into the role of class problem-solver." He smirked down at the ladybug kwami. "Now if I can just do the same thing in my professional life. Can't let the kitty cat have all the fun, you know."

She flew up and hugged his cheek. "You are going to do just fine, Adrien. And I'm sure you two are going to make a wonderful team!"

He smiled and held open the side of his overshirt so that she could settle into the inner pocket before heading to class.

* * *

"Hi, Chloe!" Marinette called with a little wave as she entered the school's main courtyard. She watched as her childhood friend, with Sabrina in tow, pranced towards her.

"Mari-boo!" Chloe squealed in delight, throwing her arms around her neck. "I'm so glad you came!" She stepped back, holding Marinette by the shoulders and giving her a good once over. "You and I are going to have the best year! I'll show you all the ins and outs of school life, don't you worry! I love this outfit! Another original, I presume?"

Marinette giggled, moving Chloe's hands off of her shoulders and squeezing them for good measure. "Its good to see you too, Chloe. And, yes, I did make this outfit. It's not too much is it?" She did a little pose, showing off the flare of the pink skirt and the fit of the white cardigan both of which she had embroidered her signature pattern of pale peonies. She looked around the courtyard at all the other students, a large majority of them who were now taking an interest in the pair. It seemed her fashion sense was spot-on, but the number of excited faces now approaching was a bit overwhelming.

It was clear that she was being recognized, and questions were now being thrown at her, such as "OMG, do you go to school here?" "This is so cool! Can I have your autograph?" "Do you really make all your own clothes?" and finally, "Can I carry your books to class?"

"Ah, Yes, I just enrolled… Sorry, I don't really have… I do? Um… No, thank you…" She blinked, trying to field the questions.

"Okay, that's enough!" Chloe commanded. "Back, you vultures!" She grabbed Marinette's hand and led her away. "Let's go, Mari-boo. Class is this way. I saved you the BEST seat!"

Breathing a sigh of relief, Marinette followed her oldest and only friend to class, thankful for the rescue. Everyone seemed so nice, but she hoped that her classmates were less… enthusiastic.

Up the stairs, down the walkway, and through the door to the first class of Marinette's life, and the butterflies in her stomach had yet to subside. She was so excited that she was surprised an embarrassing squeal wasn't escaping through her clenched teeth and bright smile.

"Right here, Mari-boo! I saved the seat right in front of me!" Chloe paused, indicating a seat in the very front row. A dark-skinned boy with a red cap and earphones was already sitting in that row, and he looked none too happy.

"But that seats…" He began.

Marinette's smile fell. "Oh, is that not okay? I could…"

"Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous," Chloe cut in. "This seat is perfect for Marinette, and as a brand new student to this and any school, she should get the best seat."

"I don't want to cause any trouble," Marinette frowned.

"Its no trouble at all, when it's for my very best friend!" Chloe assured her, shooting a look at Nino which did not go unnoticed by the new blond.

Marinette frowned. It obviously was trouble, but she just didn't know what kind yet.

She sat down and introduced herself to her seatmate. "Hello, I'm Marinette," she held out for a handshake.

The boy with the red cap looked at her hand and raised an eyebrow. "So you're Chloe's friend," he said with a fair amount of uncertainty.

She sighed and wondered what exactly was so wrong with that. "Since childhood. I've only been home-schooled up until today, so I haven't really had the opportunity to make many friends." She sighed again. "Sorry if I'm bad at this."

The look on the red-capped boy's face softened as he held out his hand, this time with a friendly smile. "Well, the name's Nino. It's nice to meet you, Marinette."

The blond smiled brightly and the two shook hands. "Thanks, Nino." She leaned a little closer and whispered conspiratorially. "So whose seat have I taken?"

"My buddy, Adrien's," Nino replied. "He and Chloe have a bad history, like oil and water."

Marinette hummed, thinking quickly. She could just take the initiative and move to the next seat across the aisle, but that would put her away from Chloe, and put the Adrien guy in Chloe's line of fire. That wouldn't do. She could also ask Nino and his friend if they would mind sitting there instead, but did Marinette really want Chloe sitting behind her? She wanted to make new friends, and that might be hard to do with Chloe and Sabrina acting as a wall between her and everyone else. An idea struck and she smiled. "Would he mind if you two moved back a seat?"

"No way, dudette. It would actually be preferable."

She nodded and turned around to Chloe, a stricken look on her face. "Chloe, I'm not sure this arrangement will work, after all! I would have to turn all the way around in my seat just to talk to you!" She made a pleading gesture with her hands. "Do you think you could sit in the seat next to mine?" She pointed to the seat across the row. "Then we will be right next to each other, and I won't get in trouble for turning around all the time!"

Chloe grabbed her hands and gave them a squeeze. "Oh, Marinette, that is a fabulous idea! Absolutely fabulous. Come, Sabrina. We're moving."

As the duo grabbed their belongings and moved, Marinette surreptitiously held out a fist, which Nino noticed and bumped on the down-low.

"Seriously cool," he whispered.

"Mother was an actress," she whispered back, then waved goodbye to Nino. As he moved a seat back, the last stragglers of the class arrived, a red-haired girl with glasses and a boy with pierced ears and messy dark blue hair. Assuming that the boy had to be Nino's friend and wanting to make the best impression she could, she gave him the most disarming smile that her years as a model could deliver. Several emotions ran across his face; confusion, then alarm, and probably anger? She wasn't sure, but his face had turned quite red before he quickly took his seat with Nino. She frowned. That wasn't the reaction she had wanted… Did she do something wrong? He wasn't mad about the seat, after all, was he?

She shook her head and dropped the frown, turning to her new seatmate. "Hi, I'm Marinette."

"Alya," the girl replied, sending a curious look to the seat behind them.

* * *

Chloe had changed seats again. That was the first thing Adrien noticed when he and Alya entered the room. It was shocking enough to make him pause, especially after the stink she'd made about seats yesterday. The next thing he noticed was Nino sitting one row back, pointing at the seat next to him with a goofy grin. Both of those faded when he met the jade green eyes of the smiling blond sitting in his original seat, however. For a moment, he was lost as to who this new person could be, but then he remembered: Chloe's friend. She didn't really look the part, though. Her blond hair was more of a natural golden than a bleached blond, arranged in two pigtails that spiraled over her shoulder and looked impossibly soft, and he couldn't tell if she was using makeup or not, she looked so natural except for a light pink gloss on her lips. What caused him to miss a step, however, was when she directed the most winsome smile he'd ever seen in his direction.

If destiny had a smile, it would look like that.

Her smile slipped for a moment to show a touch of concern, leading him to realize that he was standing in the front of the classroom staring like an idiot. Face flaming he quickly made his way to his new seat next to Nino while Alya slid in next to the pretty blond.

While the two newest members of the class introduced themselves to each other, Adrien turned to greet his best friend and noticed that the goofy smile he'd had earlier was now directed at the back of a blond head.

"That girl is amazing, dude," Nino nearly whispered. "You should have seen the way she just convinced Chloe to move! The queen bee didn't even argue!"

"So she did this?" Adrien asked, indicating the new seating arrangements.

"Flawlessly," Nino sighed.

Oh, Adrien realized. Someone has a crush. The blue boy didn't know how to feel about that, actually. But then the litany that Sabrina has regaled them with came to mind.

"Chloe's friend, daughter of a famous designer, and a supermodel?" the baker's son repeated. "Definitely out of our league."

"Totally," Nino replied, though his tone indicated that he either wasn't really listening, or he really didn't care.

Adrien just shook his head and tried his hardest not to stare at the blond, himself, while Mme. Bustier started class.

* * *

_Post Story AN: I always thought it was pretty trollish of Gabriel when he said "Take a good look at that school, Adrien! You will not be going back there… without your bodyguard." I think that Gabe actually does have a funny bone, its just really, really small and probably in his right pinkie. Have you noticed that he practically puns in each of his villain rants when he loses? _

_Another thing I've always wondered what exactly did Nathalie tell him that convinced him to change his attitude towards school? I think his penchant for being an unbending person makes him seem unreasonable until he reaches the point where he changes his mind, and then he's like, "Yes, this was my idea from the beginning." Cue straight face._

_A few notes on my feelings here: I hate the nickname "Mari-boo" but it is totally something Chloe would say. I mean "Adrikins?" XP Also, before I get lynched, this is not going to be a NinoxMari fic in any shape form or fashion, but I do want to lay the groundwork for some future stories. :O Also... Do you think Adrien might have a case of love at first sight? I don't think it's "Love" quite yet, tbh. More work needs to be done here. They've got to earn this love square! _

_Next Chapter: A New Villain Appears! Who will Hawky Akumatize next? What is his plan? Will our heroes ever learn who their nemesis is? Stay tuned! _


	4. Chapter 4

_AN: Before I start, let me just say, I spoiled myself by watching Love Eater, part 1 and I'm hating myself for it. Take all my tears as the cautionary tale that it is. T-T_

_My chapters are also getting longer and longer, I've noticed._

_DocMcDuck: Some akumas will be the same, but there are ripple effects and changes based on the new who, what, when, and where's. Bubbler might not ever happen, or it might happen way later for different reasons. Animan is almost certain to happen. The akumas that either Adrien or Marinette caused, either directly or indirectly will definitely be changed. You'll see very, very soon. Also, I liked your alternate-alternate-universe mashup idea. :D_

_KitKat135: This was the story I was dying to read, so I feel you! I hope you enjoy this addition. :)_

_Avinaya La Salle: Love-at-first-sight is literarily cheap and easy. But on the second look... _

_As a general note, I did end up mirroring some cannon instances with some notable differences. There are just some situations that I am personally attached to and didn't want to lose, even at the risk of seeming cliche or unoriginal. While I did that, I also took it completely off the rails in some aspects, and I hope they work. I already know I'm going to get nasty letters saying "That's not how that works!" (You'll know it when you see it) I'm going to just go ahead and claim author's prerogative on that one. :) I personally like my changes, but I'm biased. I'd love to hear what you think! (even if it is a nasty letter saying 'That's not how that works!' hehe)_

* * *

Chloe Bourgeois, daughter of Andre Bourgeois, the mayor of Paris, and Audrey Bourgeois, the queen of fashion, was not a pushover. She always knew exactly what she wanted, and whatever she wanted, she got… with some notable exceptions. She never did get that private island in the Bahamas. She was still waiting to find a boy just as perfect as her to be her prince. And she had yet to receive the attention or praise of her mother.

That wasn't all bad, however. What she lacked in maternal love, she gained in her relationship with one Marinette Agreste. From infancy, the two girls had sought out one another at galas, dinners, fashion shows, and playdates. They understood each other and what it meant to be the heir to a fashion empire, to have expectations heaped upon your head. They understood each other's pain, increasingly over the last year, for the loss of a mother. Chloe felt the loss of Marinette's mother almost as acutely as her own, though in some ways she felt her own loss was worse. Whereas Marinette's mother was missing, Chloe knew where her mother was, and knew that she had been abandoned.

Even in her own pain, with her mother's disappearance, Marinette still found ways to comfort Chloe. The blond played with the charm bracelet on her wrist, a Marinette Original decorated with charms laid with onyx and sphene gemstones to match her favorite outfit. Most of the charms were of things that Chloe liked- shoes, lipstick, the Eiffel Tower- but her favorite charm was the outline of two girls standing hand in hand, yellow gemstones shaped for the hair, one with a dress of yellow, the other with a dress of pink. Though Marinette could easily and somewhat sadly claim that Chloe was her only friend, Chloe would never admit that Marinette was also her only true friend.

She had yes-men and followers, but only one Marinette. Marinette was kind and thoughtful to everyone, unlike her. She knew she was an ice queen. People always found a way to let her down so she saw no value in lowering herself. If there was one thing she learned from her mother, it was to always look out for yourself. Marinette was her only exception. But what would happen if Chloe was no longer Marinette's only friend? Marinette didn't know any better. She didn't understand that these people would just use her for fame and recognition and who knows what else. It was up to Chloe to protect her from the lower class idiots who swarmed this school.

It was those thoughts that engrossed her through the second day of school, as she watched Marinette ingratiate herself towards that nobody blogger.

She wanted to call out to Marinette, draw her attention back in her direction, but class then started. She watched Marinette's first awkward attempt at being called present. She watched her proudly raise her hand for every question, of which she obviously knew the answers to, and watched her blush as Mme Bustier declared "Someone other than Mlle Agreste, please?" She cursed her lack of foresight in not sitting with Marinette herself when partners were assigned for discussion. While her Marinette was conversing happily with that red-headed schmoozer, she was stuck listening to Sabrina agree with everything she said while writing all the answers on both of their papers. She'd almost rather do her own work and sit with Marinette, than watch this travesty in action.

The pattern continued throughout their classes. Chloe would claim Marinette and lead her from class to class, and then Marinette would be assigned a seat away from her, usually with that… that… flame-headed attention-seeker!

She reached her breaking point at the same time break came around.

Adrien sat with Nino at their usual table, watching for Alya and Marinette. The two boys had invited the new girls to join them for lunch. They spotted Alya first, who walked over to their table and had a seat right away. "Marinette's in the ladies' room. She'll be here in a second," she smiled and then took out her phone to check her blog again. "This is so unreal!" She started to add something to that but was cut off by Chloe.

"What's unreal is how lame you losers are." She popped her gum and leaned forward, one hand on her hip and one on the table. "Look, you don't know Marinette like I do, so let me make one thing clear to you: She's my friend, not yours, so stay away from her." She stood up and crossed her arms while the trio glared. "Why, just now, I was in the ladies' room with my poor, dear friend, and she was regaling me with how you won't stop bothering her but she is just too kind to come out and tell you herself."

Across the courtyard, Marinette appeared with Sabrina, red-eyed and dabbing her nose with a tissue. Chloe shot them one last glare before flipping her ponytail over her shoulder and stalking off. "See? Now back off."

The looks of anger on their faces was priceless, and she smiled widely all the way to Marinette's side.

Marinette sniffled again for the umpteenth time and fished in her purse for her allergy medication, carefully minding Plagg and his hidden cheese, while following Sabrina to the courtyard. The meek girl profusely apologized for the millionth time. She knew the girl was somewhat fanatical when it came to Chloe, but whatever had convinced her to take a feather duster to her cardigan was beyond her. The school wasn't that dusty! Where had she even gotten it from? These were mysteries that might never be solved.

"I'll compile a full list of your allergies and keep them in mind, Marinette! I promise this will never happen again!" Sabrina stated.

"Indeed it won't!" Chloe added, voice reprimanding while she looked at Sabrina. "Don't worry, Mari-boo! You can sit with me all during the break and I'll even let you use my best mascara if you need to freshen up."

Marinette waved her off with a smile. "That's okay, Chloe. I'm sure my makeup will be just fine. Besides, Nino and Adrien promised to introduce Alya and me to the other students during break."

Chloe scoffed. "Nonsense! You just let me handle introductions. I'll introduce you to all the best people." She smugly raised a hand in the air, examining her nails. "Besides, you don't want to go mingling with the wrong sort. You won't believe what those simpletons had to say!"

With a look of shock, Marinette looked over to the table to see the three, whispering with heads together and shooting the spare dirty look towards them, or more aptly towards Chloe and, by extension, her.

"Chloe, what did you do?" she asked suspicion clear in her voice.

"I simply told them the truth," the pony-tailed blond gestured, laying her nailed hand over her heart. "Just trust me, Mari-boo. They do not want to be your friend."

"After what you just told them, probably not," Marinette frowned, increasingly upset. "Chloe, I came to school to make more friends than just the two of us, to see what it would be like to be a normal teenager and not just an entitled heiress!"

The moment she said it, she regretted it, realizing what that must have sounded like. Chloe's face iced over, and never before had Marinette experience such a cold look being directed at her. "Chloe…" she began to apologize.

"I see how it is, Agreste. Fine. Enjoy your loser friends. Come, Sabrina," she ordered with a snap and stormed off just as the class bell rang.

Chloe, instead of heading to class, went straight to the ladies' room, Sabrina close on her heels. She made it to the mirror before the first tear fell. "Stupid Marinette," she angrily glared at her reflection, willing the tears not to fall. She tore the charm bracelet off of her wrist and held it up high to throw it…

* * *

"Such anger! Betrayed and abandoned by her only friend… yes, she will make the perfect messenger! Fly away, my little Akuma!" Hawkmoth smiled widely as the black butterfly found its purchase in a silver charm bracelet made with love.

* * *

"_Swarm Queen, I am Hawkmoth. You have been replaced by one of your oldest friends. I will give you the power to create your own hive of like-minded followers so that you will never be replaced again. In return, you must deliver a message for me_."

Slipping the bracelet back on with a vicious smile, Chloe replied, "Gladly, Hawkmoth."

Sabrina looked on in fear as a dark miasma engulfed Chloe, leaving behind a humanized wasp-bee-thing. Antennae jutted from her head, which now seemed to be largely covered with a mask that seemed to be mostly composed of two huge black composite eyes. A long yellow robe lined with thick black fur covered her body. The charm bracelet that sat at her wrist was now a circle of dangling thorns.

"Don't be afraid, Sabrina. All shall bow before the Queen," she smirked as she picked a thorn from the bracelet and flung it in the terrified girl's direction. Sabrina could not get away fast enough. The thorn found its purchase, and Sabrina was transformed.

"Come, Drone, we have work to do."

And as usual, the black insectoid that was once Sabrina wordlessly followed.

* * *

Marinette scanned the science lab, spotting Alya and the free seat next to her. Taking a deep breath, she walked up and took the seat, setting down her things down before turning to the surprised redhead.

"I don't know what Chloe told you," she began without preamble, "But I need to apologize. I genuinely want to be your friend, and I thought we worked well today. All I ask is that you judge me by my actions and not the words of others." She held out a hand to shake. "Deal?"

The corner of the blogger's lips quirked up as she shook the hand. "Deal." She smiled in full. "And relax, girl! Nino told us that there was something up with Chloe that didn't sit right."

Marinette exhaled deeply in relief. "That's good. I was worried. I know I've already done something on my own to upset Adrien, and I thought…"

"Wait," Alya cut her off, quirking up an eyebrow. "Why do you think you upset Adrien?"

Before she could answer, the lab door was slammed open as the newest Akuma stormed the room.

"Marinette Agreste! Come bow to your queen!" She pulled a thorn charm from her bracelet as the classroom erupted into chaos. Students started rushing for the door, scattering, allowing Marinette to filter out with the crowd as Swarm Queen threw the charm, hitting the back of one of the running students. "You should know, on Wednesdays we wear BLACK!" She cackled as another student joined her swarm.

Diving into an empty classroom with the cries of Swarm Queen echoing behind her, Marinette let the cat kwami out of her purse. "Plagg, I think that was Chloe!"

"Gotta say, she seems especially ready to find you, kitten," he pointed out.

Marinette smirked. "Guess I better make myself scarce then. Plagg! Claws out!"

Now transformed, she jumped out the window and reentered the school from the roof, dropping into the main courtyard between a running group of students and the akuma, spinning her baton to deflect a volley of thorns. "You know, there are better ways to make friends," she called out to her akumatized friend.

"I don't need friends. A hive of minions will do just fine! Now, where is Marinette?!" Swarm Queen demanded.

Without a single word from Swarm Queen, her gathered drones surged forward, putting Kitty Noir on the defensive. She dodged and weaved, barely evading the swarm, before a string wrapped around her waist and snatched her out of the fray. She yelped as she sailed through the air before being deposited on her rump next to a smirking Mister Bug.

"I thought Kitty's always landed on their feet?"

"Bug off, Bug-a-boy," she responded, though the bite in her words was undermined by her smirk.

"Me-ouch! Does Kitty have a bee in her bonnet?"

She stood to her feet and readied her baton, extending it to staff length. "You could say that," she conceded. "Thanks for the save," she winked.

The spotted hero smiled back. "Sure thing, partner," he managed to say before the swarm of akuma victims began surging forward.

While they fought off minions, Kitty Noir maneuvered herself to stand back-to-back with Mister Bug. Batting another minion out of the air, she explained. "I've been watching this akuma. She's a girl named Chloe Bourgeois." She smacked a drone in the face, feeling kind of bad, knowing that it was just a victim underneath, but better it than her. "Have you noticed the way she pulls thorns off of her bracelet? I bet that is where the akuma is."

"Good Kitty," Mister Bug praised. "Now we just need to find out where Swarm Queen bugged out to."

Kitty swapped spots with him, sweeping the legs out from under a minion while Mister Bug deflected a volley of thorns. "I think we found her," Kitty Noir deadpanned.

"Where is Marinette Agreste?" Swarm Queen again demanded of the heroes.

"Hidden where you'll never find her!" the black cat heroine replied confidently.

A purple butterfly aura appeared over the akuma's eyes while Mister Bug whispered to his partner, "You sure about that?"

She nodded, "One hundred percent," right before the Swarm Queen made a "Tch" sound and headed straight for the Eiffel Tower. The minions scattered, dispersing into the city to harrow the civilians.

The two heroes paused, torn between protecting the populace and chasing the villain. Mister Bug looked at Kitty Noir and nodded. "Save who we can, but we make a bee-line for the akuma. That will fix everything."

She nodded. "After you, Bug."

As they raced through the city, it was clear that word had spread. The city was already on high alert from yesterday's akuma attack, and with today's victim being the Mayor's own daughter, it was no surprise that he and the police were already out in full force.

Andre Bourgeois was already pleading via megaphone when they arrived. "Chloe, darling, please stop this! It's not too late to come home and put this all behind us!"

The two heroes landed beside the Mayor. "You won't be able to reason with her. She's been possessed by an akuma," Mister Bug explained.

"Mister Bug! Kitty Noir! Thank goodness you are here," the mayor declared. "Please, save my daughter!"

Kitty Noir smiled at him. "That is the plan, M. Mayor."

The akumatized heiress stood upon the Eiffel Tower, flanked by two of her drones, and scoffed. "I am Swarm Queen! Everyone in this city will bow down to me! But first, however, I have come to deliver a message!"

In a move that was like a horror movie, the bee villain opened her mouth and spewed forth a different type of swarm, this time of butterflies. The weakened queen collapsed, only to be caught by her two attendants. Meanwhile, the swarm coalesced, forming the shape of a thirty tall foot head.

All in attendance stared in horror and listened with rapt attention as the head began to speak.

"People of Paris, listen carefully. I am Hawkmoth."

The two heroes looked at each other, verifying that this was the first either had heard the name. "Hawkmoth?" they questioned in unison.

"Mister Bug, Kitty Noir, give me the ladybug earrings and the cat ring now! I think you've done enough damage to these innocent people."

While Kitty Noir was wracked with the guilt that this akuma was quite likely her fault, Mister Bug stepped forward. She watched as he broke the stunned silence with a slow clap that ended in a shrug. "Yeah, yeah. Nice try, Hawky! I think you flipped the script, there." He pointed an accusatory finger at the talking head. "Without you, no one would be akumatized in the first place! That makes you the villain here, so better watch out! Because, Kitty Noir and I? We will hunt you down. We will find you. And we WILL take your miraculous!"

Kitty watched in fascination, her heart in her throat, as her blue-haired Bug counterpart flew at the embodiment of the villain, tearing it apart swipe by flurried swipe until the last black butterfly had been captured. That done, chest heaving, he turned and looked at the gathered Parisians.

"People of Paris, rest assured that Kitty Noir and I will do everything in our power to protect you and keep this city safe. That's a promise!" He then released the trapped butterflies from his yo-yo.

Kitty Noir had never seen anything quite so beautiful as that heroic boy wreathed in pristine white butterflies, a confident smile on his face. Time stopped just long enough for her to realize that her heart wasn't hers anymore. And then…

"Chloe!" she reminded herself under her breath, then ran into a pole-vault to catch up to her partner.

* * *

Hawkmoth growled. "That impertinent whelp! He's just too… too… heroic!" He clutched his cane and spoke again to his akuma. "Swarm Queen, Mister Bug and Kitty Noir are trying to take everything away from you. To stop them from doing that, you must take their miraculous and bring them to me!

"You got it, Hawkmoth," Swarm Queen replied.

* * *

Kitty Noir was terrified but highly motivated. Despite everything she'd done, despite her flaws, Chloe was still Marinette's friend. Marinette was probably one of the only people who knew the Chloe under those flaws. She knew this akumatized form was a perversion of the heiress's true wishes, and it sickened her that Hawkmoth could abuse her friend's feelings of abandonment for his own gain. She vowed to herself that when Chloe was freed from this, she'd pull her aside and have a long heart-to-heart, hopefully over make-overs and movies like the good old days.

For now, she needed to not die first. Swarm Queen was living up to her name. The seemingly mindless drones under her control relentlessly pressed their attack, protecting the Queen who was steadily firing stingers at them. The two heroes couldn't get close. "Okay, Bug, got an idea yet?"

He nodded. "Cover me," he called, pulling back from the battle.

"Okay, but don't be long! Your absence stings me!" She smirked.

"Oh, bee-have," he punned back. "Lucky Charm!"

A red and black polka-dotted pop capsule the size of a softball fell into his hands. Closer inspection revealed it to be filled with play slime. He raised an eyebrow. Tikki wasn't kidding when she said the charm could be random. "Okay, how can I use this…" he said to himself. What they needed was to disable Swarm Queen's stinger charms so they could reach the bracelet… That was it! "Hey, Kitty! How's your batting average?"

"Won't know until I try!" she replied, changing her hold on her baton to resemble that of a bat and kicking a drone out of the way with an acrobatic spin.

"Make an opening so we can see how good a catcher Queenie is." He kissed the capsule for luck, then shouted, "Batter up!" On cue, Kitty swung her baton, sending the drone in front of her careening back into the one behind it, knocking them both down and clearing a path. Taking the opportunity of the sudden clearing, Mister Bug fast-pitched the capsule straight to the villain of the hour, who in shock, crossed her arms in front of her to block. The capsule popped on the bracelet, covering the wrist and every charm in a red slime.

"Ew! Disgusting! You filthy peasants!" the bug queen raged. "I am so going to make you pay!" She pulled a gooey charm from her bracelet and attempted to launch it, failing as it slipped and slid in her fingers. She tried another, to no better result, and screeched, wordlessly and high-pitched in frustration. Now at a disadvantage, Swarm Queen fled, flying higher and higher up the Eiffel Tower.

"Catch her before she gets too far away!" Mister Bug warned his partner.

Kitty nodded, eyes determinedly on Swarm Queen, and was gone before he had even finished the statement. They raced her, weaving in and out of the tower's architecture. She was attempting to deny them a clear shot, and it worked, all the way until they reached the apex of the spire.

With a well-placed spin of his yo-yo, Mister Bug did the only thing he could think of, and leaped after the escaping Akuma, catching her by the wrist and breaking the bracelet away from it.

With a dissipation of black bubbles, Kitty's heart stopped. Chloe now clung to Mister Bug, screaming as the hero caught the akuma as the two suddenly began to free-fall from a height of over a thousand feet.

With a speed born of panic, the cat dropped to the next level and called, "Cataclysm!"She shoved her hand into the side of the tower, creating a spike out of the side that she ran along. "Bug!" She reached out as they fell past. She began rapidly descending the tower, while the Ladybug hero threw his yo-yo once more, this time anchoring to the spike she had created, stopping their sudden plummet. With a breath of relief, she watched as he slowly lowered them the rest of the way before retracting his string.

"Daddy!" Chloe shouted as she ran toward the Mayor, who met both heroes at the base of the Eiffel Tower.

Mister Bug released the butterfly, while the duo chorused, "Bye-bye, little butterfly!" He called his Miraculous Cure, then turned to his partner, who was smiling fondly at the hugging parent and child and then at him. She held up a fist. "Pound it," she encouraged, and he obliged with a smile. That was one tradition that he could really get behind.

The Mayor approached them, Chloe hugging at his side. "Mister Bug, first you save the city, and then my own daughter. I can't thank you heroes enough!"

"Its all in a day's work, M. Mayor," he responded just as his earrings beeped a warning. "And that's it for me! Bug out!" He saluted and then took off.

Kitty had so much more she wanted to say, mainly to Chloe, and if either of them noticed her hesitation, they didn't indicate it. But now was not the right time, nor place, nor persona. Marinette would just have to wait until school. Instead, she bowed deeply before vaulting off into the Parisian horizon.

* * *

"Chloe," Marinette called out to her friend as the student body released for the day. The other blond looked at her and harrumphed, sticking her nose in the air as she picked up her belongings. She didn't walk away with them, though, so that was encouraging. She continued with a sigh. "I wanted to apologize for what I said earlier. I was angry and it came out all wrong. I never intended to replace your friendship. You are my oldest friend, and nothing will ever change that, no matter how many friends I may or may not have." She cleared her throat and added, a bit more ashamed, "And I'm sorry I called you an entitled heiress."

Chloe handed her things to Sabrina, who took adding them all to her own things in stride. "Well, I am an entitled heiress," Chloe admitted proudly with a flip of her hair. She held that proud pose for a moment before cracking an eye open at Marinette. "Though… I guess I owe you an apology, also." Marinette's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "I shouldn't have tried to sabotage your chances of making friends. You are just too kind and trusting, Marinette," she admitted, the use of her real name an indication of how serious Chloe was being. "I was afraid that if you made new friends that you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore."

Marinette surprised Chloe by wrapping her in a hug, which after a shocked moment, the other pony-tailed blond returned. "You will always be my friend, Chloe. Just… please trust me on that."

Chloe didn't answer right away, but she did eventually concede. "Okay, Mari. I'll trust you."

The two girls let each other go, and Marinette smiled widely. "I have a bit of free time on Saturday after my photoshoot. Do you want to do makeovers and movies?" She looked at Sabrina. "Both of you?" She didn't really know much about Sabrina, other than she was Chloe's 'school friend' and devoted follower, but maybe all three of them could be friends.

"I'd love to!" Sabrina excitedly answered, looking to Chloe for approval.

Chloe grinned imperiously. "Fine, but I get to pick the movie."

"Sounds good," Marinette smiled. "I'll arrange it with my father and Nathalie." Oh, the joys of living by a schedule.

They made their way to the front of the school, idly listening to Sabrina talk about a beautiful exhibit that she and Chloe had gone to see at the Louvre. They stopped, however, when Marinette spotted Adrien standing on the front steps. She turned to the other two girls.

"Um… would you mind if I spoke with Adrien alone? I feel like I need to explain and apologize for earlier."

Chloe crossed her arms and harrumphed. "If he is upset with you over a little thing like that, then he's a bigger idiot than I thought," she bluntly stated. She regarded Marinette and her earnest expression, however, and sighed. "Fine. But keep in mind that if he so much as breaths wrong in your direction, I'll make his life a living hell."

Marinette smiled. "Thanks, Chlo."

While the two girls left in the other direction, waiting in a dry spot for their rides home, Marinette came up even with Adrien. The rain had started, and her ride had already arrived. She was thankful for Nathalie and her attention to detail for the umbrella in her hand. "I… want to apologize," she started. "Chloe told me what she told you during break, and I want to assure you that I truly do want to be your friend."

Adrien looked at her with surprise. "It's okay, really…" he assured

"No, no it's not," Marinette cut in, opening the umbrella. "I'm not sure what I did to upset you this morning, but I'm deeply sorry for it. I've never been to school before, and Chloe's been my only friend since forever. All of this," she indicated the school, "It's so new to me. So… forgive me?

Thunder crashed as Adrien looked into the earnest green eyes of the girl in front of him, amazing that she could possibly think she'd upset him. He knew Chloe's antics when he saw them, and today had wreaked of them. If anyone could be her friend, it would have to be a saint.

She must have taken his stunned silence as hesitation, because as the rain began to pour, she stepped closer, offering her umbrella.

"Would you… walk me to my car?" Marinette asked, hoping he would accept her apology.

He nodded and took the umbrella from her, careful to stand close so they were both covered. "You, you really have nothing to apologize for," he finally vocalized. With an assuring smile, he opened the car door for her. "I'm just sorry I wasn't able to follow through with my promise to show you around today."

She regarded him with a thoughtful look before she got in, then smiled, standing on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you, Adrien. You are very sweet. Keep the umbrella, I have another." She ducked down to sit in the car.

Stunned, a blush spread on his cheek while he gingerly touched his fingertips to it.

Then suddenly, the umbrella snapped shut, and a giggle that sounded like it came from the heaven's rose to Adrien's ears. He quickly unfolded the umbrella, blush in full force, and then smiled sheepishly at the girl in the car.

"You are a funny guy, Adrien," she waved with a smile. "See you tomorrow!" She shut the car door and was gone.

His cheek still tingled, and the goofy smile did not go away. "She thinks I'm funny, Tikki," he reverently said as he watched the car disappear from sight.

The ladybug kwami giggled. "Yeah, and that's not all you are, loverboy," she teased.

Adrien shrugged. "Oh, stop, you. Besides, she's way out of my league."

"If you say so," she contested, a knowing look on her tiny face. "I think you might be surprised."

With a shake of his head and a small chuckle, Adrien made his way home.

* * *

As soon as they had a moment of privacy, Plagg floated in front of Marinette's face and teased, "Oooh, the first day of school and you've already got a couple of sweethearts."

She looked at him with a brow raised. "You mean Adrien?" She shook her head with a smile. "No, he's just a friend." She rubbed the cat kwami's head behind his ears as she thought about that. She had another friend. It took hours for the smile to fade from her face.

Plagg wasn't convinced. "If you say so, kitten." And this was why he stuck to cheese.


	5. Chapter 5

_AN: So many reviews on Chapter 4! Thank you so much! _

_So, confession time. All during the Chloe Chapters, I had "The Only Exception" by Paramore stuck in my head, and for this chapter, it was "Rude" by Magic! :D Also, I struggled with some decisions in order to make this chapter happen! I hope it doesn't disappoint. As you can tell, I am mainly progressing through the timeline. I'm using amour-chasse-croise's season one timeline on Tumblr, for those interested. I won't be using all episodes, though! For the sake of time, length, and flow, I'm only going to include those episodes or situations that advance the "plot" in some way. Trying to avoid filler. :) I saw a lot of speculation as to how this set-up would affect certain scenarios, and I liked the ideas that it puts into my head. I like this idea of "cannon-with-a-twist meets and-now-for-something-completely-different!" :) _

_pinksakura271: I'm really pleased with how the dynamic between Bug and Kitty is turning out! I wanted it to be dynamic and natural while at the same time being ever-so-slightly different from cannon. "_I'm surprised Nathalie didn't question Adrien by the car a let alone near Mari." -_actually, I had completely forgotten she was there in the cannon scene! I went back and read what I wrote and realized that my wording might have been misleading as well. Nathalie had just made sure Marinette had taken an umbrella to school that day. Sorry for the confusion!_

_bunnywabbit29: deadly. It's a relationship killer. and thanks!_

_Beatitude Girl: Miracle Queen nearly killed me, so I needed my version of Chloe to get me through! _

_Titanfire999: I tried to stall this chapter to give you time to finish your calc homework. :) _

_Sakhmet and Hathor: Thanks!_

_LaylaDeMich: Just following cannon would be boring. ^_~ I'm glad I managed to make it interesting so far! _

_Violetsz: Yes, you did, because we all love a bit of schadenfreude, even if we don't want to admit it. :)_

_DocMcDuck: There will always be something innately "Chloe" about Chloe Bourgeois, but time will tell! I like her as a character, but I also like her as a mean girl. She's a good foil and a great source of conflict. Even her being a "redeemed" character brings its own challenges and conflicts, though, so it should be fun to explore. I only hope I do her justice._

_Videocrazy: I actually had that same thought, and then went "screw it! let's do it anyway!" And you were also pretty spot on with my justification: she wasn't in any real harm. In the part where Swarm Queen frowns and then takes off towards the tower, Hawky is actually telling her to give up on finding Marinette until she does what he wants, and there was nothing stopping him from taking her akuma at any time. Mari's connection with Chloe is one of the things that makes me the happiest about this AU, so I'm glad you like it as well! Also, Yep, that's me on AO3. :3 I'm just really bad about using that platform, as I said in my PM..._

_Spideyfangirl123, Guest, and the likes/followers/readers: Thank you so much! _

* * *

Marinette finished the lock stitch on the underside of her newest creation happily humming the birthday song to herself. Completed, she turned the large ladybug pillow over with a jaunty toss and then attempted to hug the stuffing out of it, smiling widely.

Plagg looked on with a sour look on his face as she lovingly placed the ladybug pillow in the place of honor on her bed, cuddled by the large cat pillow. "Don't you find it a little strange that you have to make your own birthday presents?" he asked, floating over her shoulder as she cleaned up the red and black cloth scraps and string clippings.

She shook her head and smiled up at the little cat kwami. "Not really. I like to think that my father understands where my passions lay." She looked at the box of exquisite Agreste Exclusive fabrics that she had been given that morning. It would have been nice if he had given them to her in person, at least, but by now she wasn't surprised that his birthday wishes had come out of Nathalie's mouth or that she had eaten her bland, nutritionally balanced breakfast alone. It still would have been nice to hear "Happy Birthday" from her father's mouth though.

And she'd be lying if she said she didn't miss the days when her father would present her with a personal gift and her mother would take her on a special day out. But things changed, and she just had to learn to accept that.

Noticing Marinette's drop in mood, even as she attempted to not show it, Plagg flew behind the yarn box and returned with a slice of camembert, wrapped nicely in a red bow. He presented it to her proudly. "Happy Birthday, Marinette!"

Her eyebrows raised in surprise as the usually taciturn kwami presented his most precious possession to her as a gift. She was equal parts repulsed and deeply touched at the gesture. "Wow, Plagg…" she began, lost for words. "You do care!"

The black cat scoffed. "Tch… fa… ho.. Whatever! If you don't want it…!"

"No, no, no, it's not that!" Marinette assured, making a soothing gesture with her hands, then cupped them around the black kwami, letting him still hold on to the smelly cheese while he turned up his nose, clearly insulted. "I appreciate the thought, and I'm honored you thought of me. You did a good job with the ribbon." She smiled and watched Plagg crack an eye to peek at her.

He stubbornly waited a few more moments before sighing. "Well, your welcome," he said, somewhere between pleased and not wanting to show it. The corner of Marinette's lip quirked upward while she tried not to laugh.

Plagg continued to sit in her hand, still holding (cradling) the ribbon-wrapped smelly cheese.

After a few moments of silence, she added: "You can eat it now."

Which he did, ribbon and all. Marinette finally giggled.

She donned her bookbag and opened her purse. Plagg settled in, stretching out for his morning cat-nap, and she took off for school, hoping for a better day.

* * *

Alya watched Adrien as he ruffled his fingers through his hair again for the fifth time since she'd arrived at school. It was almost to the point where she wanted to grab his hand and slap it like a misbehaving toddler's. "I don't know why you are so nervous about this. She's going to love it. Any girl would love it. Heck, I love it but it isn't for me, and if it wasn't her birthday I'd be jealous."

That did nothing to assuage his worries, however. "What if she's allergic to nuts? Or strawberries? What if she hates sweet things?" the nervous boy proposed. He knew none of that was true because he'd spent an embarrassing amount of time pouring through the internet and social media for birthday ideas for Marinette, but not every source was in agreement so it left room for error. In the end, Tikki had reminded him that the best gifts came from the heart, and he'd instantly known what he'd had to do. His mom hadn't even been all that angry with the mess he'd made. She had just kept shooting knowing looks at his dad when she thought he wasn't looking. So embarrassing, but totally worth it. He hoped.

"I'll eat them for her if that's the case. Don't worry," the blogger deadpanned.

It didn't seem as if he heard her, though. "What if she's offended and thinks I'm trying to tell her she needs to eat more or something?" Adrien worried, hand moving to his hair.

"Okay, now _I'm_ offended that you would even come up with that idea." She snatched his hand out of the air, "And for the love of all that is holy, your hair already looks like you faced a hurricane head-on, stop that!" She spotted a familiar red cap approaching and waved. "Hey, Nino! Come talk some sense into your boy!"

Nino took his headphones off as he approached and smiled widely. "Hey, my dudes! Wuzzup?"

Before Alya could open her mouth, Adrien answered, "It's Marinette's birthday," as if that would explain everything.

And to Alya's surprise, for Nino it did. The DJ nodded sagely, arms crossed. "Indeed, it is," he answered, then with a flourish presented a flash drive held between his index and middle finger. "And I am proud to announce that I have finally created the perfect playlist for the princess's party!" He tucked the USB away and pulled out a jar of bubble solution.

"Oh, bonus points for alliteration! So is it definite that she's going to have a party?" Alya asked.

"Very unlikely, actually."

The trio turned to face Marinette, two of them actually a little surprised that she'd snuck up behind them. Adrien was the one not surprised, just sort of frozen by the inevitability that the moment of truth was coming while he silently held on to the box in his hands.

"Jeez, girl! We should put a bell on you or something!" Alya noted. "So your dad said no?"

Marinette shook her head. "More like I haven't asked him. He's been really busy lately, so I haven't had the chance."

"That's messed up, man," Nino frowned. "But it's your birthday! Didn't he at least see you this morning?"

The blond shrugged. "I'm used to it by now. It's not that big of a deal." She looked at the nicely wrapped box in Adrien's hand and asked, "Is that for me?" It was easy to hear the pleased yet anxious anticipation in her voice.

He cleared his throat then held the red-ribboned box out to her. "Oh! Uh… Yeah. Happy Birthday, Marinette," he smiled sheepishly.

She looked at it, beaming brightly. "Thank you!" The ribbon reminded her of Plagg's gift from earlier, though he had somehow managed to eat that ribbon. Hopefully, this one could be saved. "May I…?" She reached for it...

"Happy Birthday, Mariboo!" Chloe cut her question off, charging across the courtyard to wrap the model in a tight hug. "I have the best birthday getaway planned for the two of us! Two weeks in the Bahamas! Daddy-kins is going to handle all of the arrangements!"

Marinette was flabbergasted. "C…Chloe! There's no way my father would agree to me leaving Paris, much less France! And two weeks is way too long! What about school? And then there's my private studies and photoshoots…" And crime-fighting as Kitty Noir… "I just can't accept that gift," she finished with a regretful frown, hoping that her friend would understand. Chloe was known to go over-the-top, but this was beyond that.

"Actually, you don't have another photoshoot for two weeks, and I can take care of all of your notes and classwork while you are away," Sabrina piped in, nose in a scheduling matrix on her phone. Marinette raised an eyebrow when she realized that the mousy girl had her entire monthly agenda inputted alongside Chloe's. It was like meeting Nathalie 2.0.

"I can't have you doing all of my classwork!" Marinette argued. "And then there's ballet, and Chinese…"

Adrien watched Marinette and Chloe argue back and forth over what was too much of a gift and what wasn't, still holding the box in his hand and feeling a bit like a lame duck. Both Alya and Nino gave him a sympathetic look and shrugged.

"Actually, dude and dudettes," Nino cut in, interrupting the blond pair's bickering, "I think what my girl Marinette needs is a party."

"Father would never allow that."

"Fabulous idea! Absolutely Fabulous" Everyone looked at Chloe in disbelief. "… coming from you, that is." Adrien imagined that if it had been an anime, everyone would have sweat-dropped.

This new-ish Chloe was going to take some getting used to.

Marinette frowned at heiress, who returned with a smug smile.

The bell rang, signaling for the students to head to class. Marinette shook her head and sighed. "Thanks anyway, guys. Let's get to class."

While she walked off, Nino gave Adrien a resolute smile. "Well, it seems I need to have a chat with Marinette's Pop."

Chloe sniffed. "You do that, DJ Tupac." She snapped her fingers. "Sabrina! Phone!"

"Yes, Chloe!" the eager girl piped up, producing her phone with the Mayor's number already dialed.

She took it and held it to her ear. "Daddy-kins? Change of plans!" She walked off as she talked, Sabrina close on her heels.

Adrien was still holding the red-ribboned box.

* * *

The first classes of the morning progressed quickly and without incident, though in each one of them, Adrien struggled to find a way to give Marinette her present. If he didn't catch her before the lunch break, however, it might be too late, so by the end of the third period, he tracked her down, determined to deliver his gift. He spotted her in the locker room, changing out her books for the next few classes and smiled, walking around the backside and taking residence leaning against the locker next to hers. He was hidden by her open locker door, and he was fairly confident that she hadn't spotted him. She seemed to be preoccupied with something, which aided his cause.

Marinette closed her locker door, jumping in surprise when she spotted Adrien. He shot a sly grin her way and held up the same red-ribboned box that he'd had earlier. "I meant to give this to you before school. It's a little time-sensitive." He held it out to her. "Happy Birthday."

She smiled and took it. "Do you always jump-scare girls like that when giving them presents?" She pulled the ribbon and opened the lid of the box face lighting up in delight.

"Only the pretty ones."_ Oh, crap! Did I just say that?_ "Not that you're pretty! I mean, you are, but that isn't why… Arg! Just enjoy your present!" He wisely shut his mouth, face flushed with embarrassment. Great. Now he was turning into a tsundere...

The blond giggled. "Thanks for the compliment? I think?" She looked in the box and tried not to squeal in delight. She actually failed. The box was filled with a baker's dozen chocolate-covered strawberries, decorated in various ways with nuts and caramel and white chocolate drizzles. The thirteenth strawberry, however, was shaped into a chocolate-dipped rose, complete with a decorated skewer stem. "These are exquisite!"

"Yeah, you are… They! They are! Yes. I made them," he admitted while simultaneously wishing the ground would just go ahead and swallow him. It was just a gift! He had been able to talk to her for a month without acting like an idiot. Why now?! _Tikki! I thought you were supposed to be lucky!_ Soon, this would all be over with, and things could just go back to normal.

"Thank you, Adrien," she smiled sweetly, then paused for a moment in thought. "You wouldn't mind if I shared these with everyone, would you?"

His heart clenched for a moment. He would have actually been surprised if she hadn't shared them, but he was touched that she'd consider his feelings enough to ask. He shook his head. "Not at all. It's your birthday; share it how you like!"

"In that case," she reopened the box and presented it to him. "Please take one! Just not the rose… I'd like to save that one for later."

He picked one of the plain chocolate-drizzled berries and thanked her. Through the next hour, she'd shared berries with most of the class; Alya and Nino first, followed by Chloe and Sabrina. Rose, Juleka, Mylene, Nathaniel, Alix, and Max. Ivan and Kim had both turned down a strawberry but still wished Marinette a happy birthday. Even Mme Bustier received one.

By the end, Marinette had discarded the box and was sitting alone at the top of the school steps as she waited for her ride. The red ribbon had found its way tied around her neck like a choker, and she was twirling the strawberry rose by spinning the stem, looking at it fondly. She closed her eyes and put it to her lips, as if she were smelling an actual rose, then sighed happily, nibbling on the first petal.

"Uh, huh," Alya judgmentally intoned, arms crossed while watching Adrien watch Marinette from a distance. "So, when exactly do you plan on telling her how you feel?"

A blush began crawling up Adrien's face as he shook his head. "No! It's totally not like that. She's just a friend." He sighed. "A smart, talented, kind, generous, beautiful friend who is way too good for me." He sighed deeply. It wasn't really his secret to tell but... "Besides… Nino likes her, too."

Her eyes widened in understanding. "Oh. Well, that does complicate things a bit."

The dark-haired boy sighed again, expelling some of the pent up frustration while he watched Marinette climb into the back seat of her car and drive away. "Yeah. They've got a lot more in common, you know? He wants to be a director, she's a model and her mom was an actress. They are both great people, kind, patient, and talented. I've known Nino my whole life and he's the best guy in the world. I know he'd be good for her, and vice versa."

Alya half-heartedly punched him in the shoulder. "Wow, you do have it bad. It's almost a shame you are such a great friend."

He groaned at the dual implications. "Don't I know it."

The blogger stood and dusted off the back of her pants, holding out a hand to Adrien. "Well, I've got your back. Let me know when you decide to pop the question."

"Ha, ha," he deadpanned, but took her hand anyway, standing up. "Where did Nino run off to?"

Alya shrugged, uncertain. "I think he went to Marinette's house. He did say something about having a chat with M Agreste. He and Chloe are going all out trying to make this party for Marinette happen."

A sudden worry sank in Adrien's gut at the thought of Nino facing off against Gabriel Agreste. He swallowed hard. "I hope it goes well for him." He conceded. "Marinette does deserve to have a good birthday."

* * *

Nino cleared his throat and rang the doorbell, straightening his hat just one more time. The woman on the other side buzzed him in and met him at the front door. He swallowed thickly, nervously fiddling with the bubbles in his hand. The home was imposing, pristine and enormous. He couldn't help but feel out of place. He also marveled at how Marinette, who seemed so colorful and lively herself, could live here. She didn't seem to match. He waited long enough for the discomfort to fully set in before M Agreste appeared at the top of the stairs, just as cold and imposing as his house. It was clear to Nino that Marinette must have inherited a lot from her mother.

"Marinette is not home yet," the stern man stated, looking down his nose at the colorful boy.

Nino cleared his throat and removed his hat. "Actually, I'm here to see you, du-er-Sir!"

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "Me?"

"Yeah, that's right," Nino gathered his courage. "Look, I know you don't want Marinette to have a party, but it's her birthday, dude- I mean, Sir!" The look on the older man's face was not encouraging. "She's only going to turn fourteen once."

The scowl deepened. "No. And that's final."

* * *

Marinette walked through the gate of her home while her driver parked the car. Plagg peaked out of the purse once the coast was clear. "Well that seemed like a nice birthday, I think," he chimed in, though the tone of his voice made Marinette think he was fishing for something. "Food is always a good gift. I like that boy." Despite his words, he made a sour face that made her smirk, "Though maybe next time you could tell him you like cheese. That much sweet stuff can't be good for anybody." And there was the hook.

His blond holder wasn't biting, however. "Yes, it was sweet, and perfect for sharing!" Marinette smiled happily. This was turning out to be a good day so far. As she reached the door, they could both hear the voices on the other side. This was highly uncommon, and the two looked at each other. "Hide, Plagg," she whispered before closing her purse and opening the door.

"…messed up! She never screws up in class and she does whatever you tell her to! Photoshoots, ballet, Chinese, violin…" She quickly stopped the boy from extolling the rest of her virtues by placing a hand on his shoulder. Whatever was going on, it couldn't be good if the tone of Nino's voice and the look on her father's face was anything to go by.

"Nino, I can't believe you came!" She smiled at him, but her smile didn't quite reach her eyes. She appreciated the gesture, but she knew that her father would not take kindly to this.

Nino smiled back at her. "Anything for you, Marinette," he replied, then turned back to Gabriel. "So show some awesomeness, du- I mean, Sir! Please!"

The look on the man's face could freeze rivers, and even though Nino still looked hopeful, Marinette could not stand to watch her friend be shot down as harshly as what was coming. She side-stepped between him and her father, smiling as brightly at him as she could. It was her "_I'm absolutely fine with this and you shouldn't worry about it anymore, please stop what you are doing_" face. "Nino, thank you so much for coming. I appreciate the gesture, but a party would simply not be possible for me at this time." She began to lead him out the door, slightly pushing him discretely. The look he gave her as she did was too complex for her to interpret at that time. "We'll have other opportunities…" she began before her father called from behind them.

"Listen, young man," he commanded, causing them both to pause and turn. Marinette didn't even attempt to hide the dread in her expression. "I decide what is best for my daughter. In fact," _oh no…_ "I have just decided that you are a bad influence and are no longer welcome in this house!"

"Father!" Marinette exclaimed, aghast. "That is simply not fair! He hasn't done anything to warrant that but ask for a party for me, which I turned down!"

"My decision is final," he addressed Nino once more. "Leave now!" It was practically a growl. Marinette winced. Not even she had heard that level of harshness from her father before.

Nathalie stepped between the pair and Gabriel as the later turned on his heel and left. "Goodbye," she said to the boy pointedly while Marinette looked on in shocked dismay.

She followed Nino, calling out as the door shut behind them. "Nino, wait!" She put an arm on his shoulder, and when he stopped and turned to her, he was surprised by her arms pulling him in for a tight hug. "I am so sorry my father was like that!" she said into his shoulder. "You deserve so much better, and I am eternally grateful to have you as a friend. Thank you so much for what you tried to do." She released him and took a step back while he momentarily reeled from the sudden closeness and then loss thereof.

He recovered, even as his insides churned. "It's just not right, Marinette. You deserve better, too." She had half expected him to smile at her, but he never did.

She watched him walk away with a grimace on his face and sighed deeply. Once he was gone, she retreated to her room to begin drafting ideas for ways to change her father's mind about Nino.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the park across the street, the red-capped boy plopped down onto a park bench, stewing over what had just happened. He ran the entire encounter through his brain again, trying to figure out where exactly he screwed up. It was obvious that her father didn't like him. Was it his speech or the way he dressed? Was it because he was a guy? Nino's frown only deepened into a scowl. If her father didn't approve of him as a friend, he didn't have a chance of getting approval as anything else! He clenched the bubble jar in his fist tightly, then exhaled deeply, attempting to calm his troubled heart. It wasn't helping too much, however.

"But, daddy, please!" a small child cried across the way, begging his father who was dragging him away.

As the father reprimanded the child and took him out of the park, Nino's mood darkened further. "Adults ruin everything all the time."

* * *

Hawkmoth relished in the strong negative emotion he felt coming from the boy. He had known from the moment he saw the boy in his home that crushing his hopes would yield tremendous results. The positive feelings the boy had for his daughter were something he had been more than happy to manipulate. Such an uncouth young man was nowhere near good enough for Marinette. He grinned viciously as he released his akuma.

He felt the boy's anger bubble and rise, despite his attempts to calm down. Hawkmoth could appreciate the effort the young man was putting in to maintain a level head but was equally pleased that he had not. His akuma found its purchase in the ridiculous bubble solution in his hand.

"Hawkmoth is my name, and Bubbler is now yours," he spoke. "I will help you with these horrid adults, and all I need from you is to get something from Mister Bug and Kitty Noir."

He knew the boy would accept and was not disappointed. "Yes, Hawkmoth," the boy smiled.


End file.
